Aircraft Recycling Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Aircraft Recycling Market is projected to expand from USD 5.06 Billion in 2025 to USD 7.78 Billion by 2031, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.43%. This sector involves the systematic disassembly and processing of retired aircraft and engines to reclaim high-value materials, such as aluminum, titanium, and avionics, for reuse within the manufacturing supply chain. The market's growth is primarily driven by the natural retirement cycles of aging commercial fleets and the enforcement of strict environmental regulations that require sustainable disposal methods to minimize landfill waste, thereby ensuring a steady demand for secondary raw materials and certified serviceable parts.

However, a major challenge hindering market growth is the global scarcity of new aircraft deliveries, which forces operators to extend the service lives of older vessels and postpone their retirement. This supply chain bottleneck limits the volume of feedstock available to dismantling facilities, consequently slowing market throughput. According to the International Air Transport Association, the aviation industry faced a cumulative delivery shortfall of roughly 5,284 aircraft in 2025, a deficit that has necessitated the prolonged retention of aging fleets and delayed their transition into the recycling ecosystem.

Market Drivers

The accelerated retirement of aging commercial aircraft fleets acts as the primary source of feedstock for the global recycling market. As airlines aim to enhance operational efficiency and achieve sustainability goals, older, less fuel-efficient vessels are systematically phased out, providing a consistent stream of airframes for dismantling. According to Boeing's 'Commercial Market Outlook 2024-2043' released in July 2024, the aviation industry will need nearly 44,000 new airplanes over the next two decades, with about half of these deliveries intended to replace retiring jets, ensuring a reliable supply of raw materials and reusable components for recycling facilities.

Simultaneously, the rising demand for Used Serviceable Materials (USM) serves as a key economic catalyst, encouraging the careful recovery of high-value components. With escalating maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) costs, operators are increasingly using certified secondary parts to cut expenses while maintaining safety, which supports the financial viability of dismantling operations. AAR Corp reported in its July 2024 'Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Report' that consolidated sales to commercial customers grew by 23.3% year-over-year, largely due to strong demand in the Parts Supply segment. This trend is further supported by circular economy investments, such as Airbus's 2024 inauguration of a 6 billion yuan lifecycle services center in Chengdu to handle the entire dismantling and recycling process.

Market Challenges

The ongoing shortage of new aircraft deliveries represents a significant bottleneck hindering the expansion of the aircraft recycling sector. Because original equipment manufacturers face persistent production delays and supply chain issues, airline operators are forced to keep older vessels in service well past their scheduled retirement dates to maintain capacity. This trend of extending service lives directly reduces the supply of feedstock available to dismantling facilities, causing a slowdown in processing activity and limiting revenue generation for recyclers who depend on a steady volume of retired airframes.

This insufficient feedstock supply disrupts the availability of certified used parts and secondary raw materials, preventing the market from operating at full capacity. According to the International Air Transport Association in 2024, the annual retirement rate for commercial aircraft dropped to approximately 1.5% of the global fleet, which is significantly lower than the historical average needed to sustain standard recycling throughput. Consequently, recycling entities are compelled to operate with underutilized facilities, thereby stifling the overall financial growth and developmental pace of the market.

Market Trends

The market is being reshaped by the strategic integration of maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services with end-of-life solutions, as stakeholders aim to ensure a consistent supply of quality components. By combining dismantling operations with MRO capabilities, companies can directly harvest, certify, and reinstall used serviceable materials (USM) into their fleets, effectively bypassing third-party brokers and supply chain delays. According to Airbus's September 2024 'Global Services Forecast 2024-2043', the aircraft dismantling and recycling market is expected to generate approximately $52 billion in USM value over the next twenty years, prompting service providers to embed teardown activities directly into their aftermarket support portfolios.

At the same time, the standardization of green teardown processes is gaining momentum to maximize material recovery and meet rising sustainability standards. Industry players are establishing collaborative frameworks that prioritize the segregation of hazardous fluids and the systematic harvesting of recyclable alloys, moving beyond simple scrapping to advanced reclamation. For example, ATR Aircraft reported in a March 2024 press release that its deepened partnership with TARMAC successfully achieved an 85.5% recovery rate for retired regional aircraft, demonstrating the efficiency gains possible through structured, environmentally aligned decommissioning protocols.

Key Players Profiled in the Aircraft Recycling Market

• Air Salvage International Ltd.
• Aircraft End-of-Life Solutions (AELS) BV
• Aircraft Part-Out Company Europe B.V.
• ARC Technology Solutions
• KLM UK Engineering Limited
• Total Technic Ltd.
• GA Telesis, LLC
• AVITAS, Inc.
• AerSale, Inc.
• Aviation International Recycling S.L.

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Aircraft Recycling Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Aircraft Recycling Market, by Aircraft Type:

• Narrow-Body Aircraft
• Wide-Body Aircraft
• Regional Aircraft

Aircraft Recycling Market, by Product Type:

• Component
• Material

Aircraft Recycling Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Aircraft Recycling Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

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