China's self-developed domestic large aircraft C919 will be put into the Spring Festival service for the first time, and this moment is coming.
With the increase of travel modes, in our country, airplanes have become one of the travel methods chosen by many people.
However, the service life of the airliner is about 25 years, and when it is decommissioned, it will be transported to an aircraft cemetery in the United States for dismantling.
Why can't the disposal of decommissioned airliners be carried out in the home country, but be sent to the distant United States for disassembly? Isn't our own technology up to the task?
Aircraft dismantling is an extremely lucrative industry.
We all know that airliners are worth a lot of money, but did you know? Retired passenger aircraft are also priceless, and even dismantling retired passenger aircraft is also a profiteering industry.
Airplanes, like humans, have their own life cycles. However, even after the end of the aircraft's life, it still has a fairly high value.
When an aircraft is decommissioned, it is broken down into multiple parts. Some people may think that "scrap aircraft" are worthless, but in fact, the aircraft industry has long become a profiteering industrial chain.
Daniel said that 90% of a retired airliner can be used, and doing so can bring millions of dollars.
The price of a Boeing 747 reached $200 million, while the total value of the four engines was $48 million. In addition, the landing gear alone can be sold for $1 million, which is enough to buy 40 Cullinan cars, so it can be called "Cullinan Fragments".
According to an aircraft dismantling center, the global aircraft dismantling industry has an average annual output value of 6.5 billion US dollars, and about 7,000 aircraft are expected to be retired in the future, which means that the aircraft dismantling industry has a bright future.
However, our passenger aircraft still need to be shipped to the United States for decommissioning and dismantling, because we do not have the ability to disassemble ourselves. One of the Chinese airliners will be shipped to the United States for disassembly.
In December 2022, an A380 aircraft of China Southern Airlines was decommissioned and sent to an aircraft graveyard in the United States.
The A380 is a large passenger aircraft with a huge passenger capacity, each aircraft can accommodate more than 800 passengers, and China Southern Airlines is the first airline in China to have such a large aircraft.
The comfort of the A380 is undoubtedly top-notch, but it is puzzling why the decision was made after only ten years to retire and send it to the aircraft graveyard?
Large airliners usually have a service life of around 15 years in large economic countries, so the A380's early exit from the market by ten years is actually due to economic considerations.
Although the A380 has a huge capacity and an excellent ride experience, it is ideal for carrying passengers at high capacity to improve transportation efficiency; However, in the case of low footfall, operating costs can outweigh profits.
The A380 costs 10 times more per flight than the average aircraft, and in most cases the empty seat rate is up to half, with limited profit margins. While this comfortable aircraft should have been welcomed, why are there so many empty seats?
The actual requirements of the A380 are also very strict for the construction of airports, and only 18 airports in the world can meet the take-off and landing conditions of the A380.
Therefore, choosing to retire with huge losses was the best decision for him.
Retired aircraft can be disposed of in three ways: one is to be used as an exhibit, the third is to be converted into a cargo aircraft, and the third is to be disassembled.
However, for the A380, the first two approaches are quite challenging. One is that it is too large to find a place for the exhibition; The second is because the overall structure of large aircraft is very stable, and it is difficult to bear the weight of cargo and change the structural mode.
Why can China independently develop a domestically produced large passenger aircraft C919, but cannot disassemble the aircraft by itself, so it can only choose to ship it to the United States? This is because large airliners can only be disassembled.
Why can't China disassemble the planes on its own?
Dismantling an aircraft is also a complex process that requires a high level of expertise. It's like if you're going to disassemble a supercar, a screwdriver and a hammer alone are obviously not enough.
China's aviation industry started late, and there are still shortcomings in infrastructure and technology in aircraft disassembly.
Although countries such as Europe and the United States have developed aviation business relatively early, there are still some gaps in other countries compared with them. Aircraft dismantling is carried out by specialized companies, with 55% of the world's aircraft dismantling companies located in the United States, while only nine companies in China are engaged in this business.
Generally speaking, the aircraft dismantling process consists of four steps: mothballing, evaluation, dismantling and **.
Aircraft mothballing is to select a suitable "safe place" for the aircraft, that is, the aircraft cemetery.
Evaluate the value of retired aircraft to determine which components are still in service.
Disassembling a machine is all about breaking it down, and the process is quite complex. Because many parts of an aircraft each play a specific role, care must be taken when disassembling it, and special tools are required to disassemble it.
The final step is to sell the usable parts to collectors and airlines.
After disassembling the aircraft, the waste must be properly disposed of, and China levies high taxes on imported waste materials, so the cost of dismantling has risen significantly.
At present, China has not fully grasped how to avoid damage to the environment in the process of aircraft disassembly, so there are great difficulties in the disposal of waste generated by aircraft disassembly, and it is impossible to maximize the reuse of waste.
These factors ultimately led to an increase in the cost of domestic disassembly.
In fact, you don't have to feel too sad about the retirement of the A380, because the A380 itself is purchased from abroad for domestic use, and most of my country's aircraft are also obtained by leasing.
Will China's self-developed C919 large passenger aircraft also be sent to overseas aircraft cemeteries like other aircraft? Does our country have its own aircraft cemetery?
Does China have a dedicated space for derelict aircraft?
Aircraft cemetery, as the name suggests, is the storage place where the aircraft is stored at the end of its useful life. Here, the aircraft is evaluated, disassembled, and finally the parts are re-evaluated, sold, and utilized.
Aircraft cemeteries require a dry environment, wide land to accommodate a large number of aircraft, and ensure an open space.
Isn't the desert the best option? Isn't such an option optimal?
Aircraft are actually very heavy, so the storage of retired aircraft requires compact, sturdy land.
There are only five civil aircraft cemeteries in the world that can meet the requirements of these routes: Mojave Airport in the United States, Alice Springs Airport and Victorville Airport in Australia, Tarbes Airport in France and Teruel Airport in Spain. Therefore, aircraft cemeteries also need a good transportation network to support their operations.
Mojave Airport in eastern California is a world-famous aircraft graveyard that is home to more than 1,000 retired aircraft, including many large aircraft that have served in China.
Asia's largest aircraft cemetery is located in Lushan, Henan Province, where China's own aircraft are housed. Most of the aircraft are retired military aircraft, such as combat aircraft such as the J-6.
Guanghan Airport is another domestic aircraft cemetery, where the largest parked aircraft is only half the size of a large passenger aircraft like the A380.
Aprons such as Beijing Daxing Airport need to pay high parking fees for storing large passenger aircraft.
Therefore, the current dismantling of domestic aircraft still needs to be continuously developed. Although China's dismantling industry started late, the hope of China's aviation industry has become increasingly clear from scratch in the aviation field and gradually realizing independent research and development of large aircraft.
As of 2022, the number of commercial aircraft in China has reached 5,387, accounting for 25% of the global total.
The scale of China's aerospace industry continues to expand, and the aviation and aircraft industry is also developing continuously.
China's aircraft disassembly industry needs to keep up with the pace of development of the times. Although the foreign dismantling industry has been mature and developed for 50 years, we believe that we have the ability to catch up or even lead. We must work hard to ensure that the full value of the aircraft remains at home.
Aircraft retirement treatment actually plays an important role in the aviation industry, and I believe that with the continuous progress of China's aviation industry, the industry will also usher in rapid development.
Your own strength determines whether you can make iron into steel.
As long as we continue to expand the market on the basis of innovative technology, we can finally get rid of foreign monopolies.
Over time, it will finally be time to set sail.