QET Tech Aerospace Launches Aircraft Recycling Service

The Mexican firm QET Tech Aerospace, Ciudad Obregón, Mexico, has added an aircraft end-of-life recycling service to its airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service. The new service includes extracting parts, disposing of the chemicals and non-usable material in an environmentally safe way, and recovering recyclable materials.

 

According to QET executives, the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (AFRA) estimates that in the next 20 years, 12,000 aircraft will be retired. “Because our MRO prices are so low, we can separate out the aircraft under a quality system approved by our aviation authority for the handling of aviation parts. These parts continue to be used in the aviation industry, so it is important to have access to the right manuals, tooling, trained people, aviation insurance and handling system in place” says Julio Cesar Alvarez, CEO of QET Tech Aerospace. 

 

Once the aviation parts are removed, the remainder of the plane is given to a low-cost facility to discard the remainder of the plane but, under the control of QET Tech Aerospace, to ensure work is done in an environmentally responsible way. 

 

To further reduce the cost of recycling, QET Tech Aerospace has joined Mexico’s IMMEX program, a system that allows the temporary importation of goods that are used in an industrial process or service to produce, transform, or repair foreign goods imported temporarily for subsequent export or provision of export services, without covering the payment of general import tax, value added tax and, where appropriate, countervailing duties. 

 

Also, under the IMMEX program, all the tools and equipment imported for the use in the program can also be imported without tax or duties. “This further helps us keep cost down while having access to the best tools we can get,” says Alvarez.