structural development

Sometimes there are those days when you open the newspaper and from then on you're just in a good mood. Namely when you see that something just works. For us in the ENO, especially for us in the structural development team (and certainly for many others, especially Rothenburger...), it was such a happy day recently.

Structural development suddenly becomes visible, things are progressing, you can not only read and feel it, you can even measure it in economic figures.

And that after just two years of intensive preparation. But one by one.

In August 2019, Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) signed a letter of intent together with the district of Görlitz, the owner of the Rothenburg OL commercial airfield. They wanted to test together whether first a small aircraft, and later a 55-ton Airbus A 320, could be completely dismantled and recycled. The small aircraft was quickly dismantled, so the Airbus landed in Rothenburg in November 2020 and was dismantled into its individual parts from December. After the experiment, in which many specialists from the region and also from Switzerland were involved, it was stated that 85 percent of the components and materials can be reused. The cockpit was turned into a flight simulator, the landing gear, the auxiliary turbine and the engines were installed in still functional aircraft.

From Elbe Flugzeugwerke it is said that it is now interesting to expand the business with recycling components on a larger scale, because the used components fetch up to 60 percent of the new price on the market. The volume of the components market amounts to between six and seven billion dollars annually. And that they want to start this business from the Rothenburg airport, as EFW Managing Director Andreas Sperl announced to the city council on Wednesday evening! Aircraft recycling is "a huge business" in which the Dresden-based company wants to get involved soon. Around 4,000 short- and medium-haul aircraft would be taken out of service worldwide within the next five years. Best prospects for everyone involved! Discussions are currently underway between EFW and several airlines, because the next aircraft is to be used before the end of this year.

But that's not all.

In Rothenburg, at the suggestion of the EFW and together with the Heim Group, a technology campus is to be created that works CO2-neutral. A photovoltaic system north of the airfield is planned as the first renewable energy source. Rothenburg's mayor Heike Böhm (SPD) said the city was behind the concept. And one of their deputies, our municipal team project manager Uwe Garack and Rothenburger with passion, not only stands behind the concept like the entire city council, but also remembers the process with joy, which now has a happy ending (or a promising start) so quickly. lays: "When I first heard about the project, I thought 'great, that sounds like a realistic chance for the airfield' and was confident from the start. It was clear to us that we would trust in the broad support of the district may." Because the Görlitz District Administrator Bernd Lange (CDU) also had high hopes for this test run: "The goal is to create a recycling center for aircraft worldwide."

According to the current status: this goal has been achieved. "We can already imagine, when we get into an industrial phase, that we'll pick up a plane here every few weeks and send it for recycling," says EFW boss Andreas Sperl. Uwe Garack is also happy for his home town of Rothenburg and the district - and we are happy with him.

Best regards!

Your

Yasna