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Upskill / Maintenance / Circular economy in aviation and aerospace 1: foundations

Circular economy in aviation and aerospace 1: foundations

What circular economy means for aircraft and engines, the life cycle of an airframe and an engine, why aircraft retire, storage, part-out and teardown in outline, the players at end of life, and the regulatory frame. Part 1 of the Circular economy in aviation and aerospace series.

By Aerospace Garage Desk · Basics · 45 minutes · 24 narrated pages

What you will be able to do

  • ✓ Explain what a circular economy means for aircraft, engines, parts and materials, and apply the EU waste hierarchy to a retiring aircraft.
  • ✓ Describe the separate life clocks of an airframe and an engine, including the FAA limit of validity and engine life-limited parts, and find which one runs out first.
  • ✓ Explain why aircraft retire, and work through an airline's keep-or-replace sum including the break-even fuel price.
  • ✓ Describe parking, storage, part-out, disassembly, dismantling and recycling in outline, and the point at which aviation rules give way to waste law.
  • ✓ Name the players at end of life (owners and lessors, teardown specialists, approved shops, parts traders, recyclers and manufacturers) and what each can and cannot certify.
  • ✓ Map a retirement against four layers of rules: parts airworthiness, registration, ownership and finance, and waste and environment.

Course content

Session 1 · What circular economy means for aircraft and engines

1.1

  1. From take, make and dispose to keep in use · free preview
  2. Aviation was circular long before the word
  3. Why it matters now: the retirement wave
  4. Worked example: mapping one aircraft onto the waste hierarchy
Session 2 · The life cycle of an airframe and an engine

1.2

  1. The airframe's clock: cycles, hours and the limit of validity
  2. The engine's clocks: modules, shop visits and life-limited parts
  3. Records: the memory that carries the value
  4. Worked example: which clock runs out first?
Session 3 · Why aircraft retire

1.3

  1. Age, and the maintenance bill that comes with it
  2. Economics: fuel burn and the value of newer aircraft
  3. Lease returns: the moment of decision
  4. Worked example: retire or keep? The airline's sum
Session 4 · Storage, part-out and teardown

1.4

  1. Parking and storage: keeping the options open
  2. From storage to the part-out decision
  3. Disassembly, dismantling and recycling: the sequence in outline
  4. From the industry file: from the PAMELA project to an industrial recycler
Session 5 · Who the players are

1.5

  1. Owners and lessors: who decides
  2. Maintenance organisations, teardown specialists and parts traders
  3. Recyclers and manufacturers
  4. Worked example: who does what, and who gets paid
Session 6 · The regulatory frame in outline

1.6

  1. Four layers of rules, and the airworthiness of reused parts
  2. Nationality, registration and ownership
  3. Waste and environmental law: when an aircraft becomes waste
  4. Worked example: a compliance map for two retirements
  • MRO deals and approvals, 5-11 Nov 2026

    3 · World n/a

    Aviation Week and AviTrader, 9-11 Nov 2026

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Who this course is for

  • Lessor, airline and MRO staff dealing with aircraft at the end of a lease or of their working life
  • Finance, sustainability and procurement teams asked how aircraft and engines are reused and recycled
  • Newcomers to part-out, teardown and used-parts trading who want the whole picture first

You need: No prior knowledge needed.

Upskill courses are for professional development and are not approved by any aviation authority. Learner Terms

Course content © Aerospace Garage Limited. All rights reserved.