Dear AFRA members,

We all have heard a lot about COP21 and the challenges related to climate change that our planet is facing. Although we need to continue our development and generate value, we also have to better control the CO2 emissions and other harmful substances generated by the aerospace industry.

The way we manufacture our products and dispose of them is increasingly under scrutiny. Indeed, many regulations and standards came into force this last decade and others are in development. These regulations and standards incentivize us to reconsider our design by integrating environmental criteria, working with our supply chain to reduce environmental impacts, and controlling adverse effects at end-of-life.

We know that 80% of an aircraft is recycled; the remaining 20% is mostly related to parts used for interiors. These parts are mainly made from polymers and other materials for which we currently do not have mature recycling technologies. This means that new ways to recycle materials will have to be developed. Another example is the Market-Based Measure system (MBM) that ICAO, the United Nations agency governing aviation, is developing that will request aircraft operators to declare and offset their CO2 emissions.

To answer these new challenges, we need to plan further into the future. For these reasons, AFRA intends to put in place this year a new R&D Committee which will help address the aforementioned challenges. The R&D Committee will look into ways for developing more efficient dismantling operations, maximizing the value of materials and increasing the recoverability of materials that are discarded today.

By investigating such initiatives, we will create new opportunities for our members to generate more profit, while contributing to the aerospace industry's sustainable initiatives.

Kahina