Tunisia’s civil aviation council (CNAC) has given its agreement in principle for the creation of a plane dismantling company at the international airport of Tabarka-Aïn Draham, in the North Western part of the country.

This was decided at the last reunion of the council, on August 30, 2017, according to a statement from the ministry of transports of Tunisia.

It should however be noted that the name of the company and needed investment have not been revealed.

With the new announcement, Tunisia’s plan to tap into a profitable and growing market is materialized. Indeed, worldwide, the plane dismantling market was valued at about $80 million in 2014, according to a study by TeamSAI Consulting and Afra (Aircraft fleet Recylcing Association) in 2015.

Still according to Afra, combined value of spare parts (sold for around 50% of the price of new products) stands at $3.3 billion per year.

In a market study conducted in 2015, US plane manufacturer Boeing, said every year, 2% to 3% of aircraft fleets are renewed. While indicating that on average, a plane’s lifeline is of 25 years, Boeing added that between 6,000 to 8,500 planes will be out of service in the next twenty years.

The market is therefore there and starts to appeal many. Actually, in addition to Tunisia, Morocco, among many other African countries, is showing interest for this market. Morocco is in fact developing a project for a site where will be dismantled reformed planes. The site which is located in Oujda will extend over 1,000 hectares.