sustainability

Hello!

Today it's about structural development live!

I'm sure you've all noticed that progress is being made at the Rothenburg airfield. Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW) and Flugplatz Rothenburg / Görlitz GmbH are now working and researching together for the second time on the promising project of aircraft recycling, i.e. the most complete possible subsequent use of a complex aircraft.

A great development for Rothenburg, especially since the cooperation ensures that a CO2-neutral commercial area is to be created on and around the VLP, also with other players and companies. A facility for the reuse of aircraft components could be at the heart of this area - the approaches that can already be seen today are promising.

But first there is a lot of concrete work to be done.

Since the landing of the Airbus A319 on 11.11. local and international employees and experts are working on dismantling the plane and extracting functional, almost brand-new, refurbished individual parts. These are then placed on the international market and incorporated into other aircraft within the recycling loop.

The first Airbus A320 (MSN1823) was successfully recycled this spring. It was a "prototype project" aimed at demonstrating technical feasibility on site. The recycling rate was 95% - the test was passed for everyone involved! A lot went into material recycling. Landing gear, auxiliary turbine and engines were installed in other aircraft, other parts were given a new use - such as the cockpit. It became a flight simulator. Individual parts, materials and reusable assemblies from discarded aircraft are in high demand on the world market: "Depending on the type of parts, recycling components only cost up to 60 percent of the new price," explains EFW spokeswoman Anke Lemke. With up to 11,000 aircraft scheduled to be retired over the next ten years, there is a sizeable market opening up for high quality but used parts.

Almost a year after the first Airbus landed in Rothenburg, everyone involved was happy to receive the "new" (22-year-old) Airbus A319-112 after its last trip and now to take the next steps together. Our ENO colleague Uwe Garack , project manager for the municipalities in the northern district, was also there at first hand.

"The meticulous preparation between the EFW and the Rothenburg/Görlitz GmbH airfield up to the landing - that was an intense experience for everyone. Suddenly you are standing very close to such a giant aircraft and you know that it will be dismantled in a few weeks, that the Individual parts are refurbished and reinstalled in aircraft. This is how our district works at the top of the world in aircraft recycling.". Even if the landing and the subsequent work seemed "easy" to the outsider, there were considerable technical and safety-related requirements to be observed, explains Uwe Garack. "That alone started with the fact that we had to translate the safety instructions into English and ended with the determination of the optimal taxiways for the aircraft on the model. The provision and coordination of the local security forces such as the fire brigade also required a great deal of commitment from everyone involved."

Uwe, who was born in Rothenburg, is particularly pleased about this: "It's remarkable, also because we've come a great deal closer to the goal of establishing a CO2-neutral industrial park. To ensure that everything runs so smoothly, we We worked closely with the district and with Elbe Flugzeugwerke and were very close when it became concrete. It's great to see the international team of experts working on this giant aircraft, you can really feel how things are progressing."

Thomas Rublack , Head of Department 3 in the district of Görlitz and Managing Director of Flugplatz Rothenburg/ Görlitz GmbH, also welcomes the continuation of the prototype project . After all, the conditions for such projects are in place, he explains. The VLP Rothenburg has a 2 km long, paved and marked runway on which aircraft with a mass of up to 14 tons can take off and land. The second runway is an unpaved runway 1200 meters long for aircraft up to 5.7 tons. In addition to the other necessary infrastructure, there are also areas available at the site for the settlement of industrial and commercial areas. Nevertheless, it takes a lot of preparation for such a project to be a success.

"The cooperation with Elbe Flugzeugwerke is an ideal constellation for the prototype projects and has now been a tradition for several years. We are very grateful for such a large, future-oriented project, the trust and the opportunities that result from the cooperation. This lasts It has been a few years now and we worked intensively together on the preparations. As the operating company, we have used the past few years intensively to prepare for the challenges and future-oriented projects. It is important to us, and always the actual possibilities and potential of the site I am particularly pleased that these two aircraft could be used to show that the region is suitable for this type of project, that it generates attention and also exudes an attractiveness that also attracts other investors with their enquiries.”

According to plan, the Eurowings Airbus is to be dismantled again by next spring. Then, as Anke Lemke from the EFW explains, decisions about the further future should be based on the results of this second project.

We wish this great project and everyone involved the very best!

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Uwe and Jasna