Stronger Together: Interactive Working Session for a More Sustainable Dutch Aviation Industry

Session Highlights:

• Collaborative Approach: Industry representatives work together to identify individual value propositions and spot opportunities for potential collective value propositions;
• Customer Profiles and Value Propositions: Participants mapped customer profiles and discussed the unique needs of different stakeholders within the value chain;
• Insights and Solutions:
  • The dependence of OEMs (both at aircraft and equipment level) poses a problem for other parties in the chain to reuse materials. Shielding IP blocks finding new solutions for reuse of current products. Designs that are not based on circularity block a positive business case for reuse in the future;
  • Also related to this is the lack of traceability: from the material origin and in particular the use history of materials to the end of the life of products. Sharing data in the chain plays a crucial role in this;
  • Possible solutions include reverse logistics and implementing a digital passport for materials;
  • The waste flows from aircraft are characterized by large peaks (during a major update or at the end of the aircraft’s life) and long-term troughs; This means that any recycling does not have a continuous supply from 1 customer. Scale must come from bundling multiple sources, but this must form a stable business case for the parties that have to provide this.
  • The aircraft industry is a global business and the lack of clear regulations and/or enforcement on how to deal with waste is currently disrupting the market design for circular material use;
  • It is also important to look cross-sectorally at other experiences and best practices to utilize knowledge and accelerate innovation.

The working session was an inspiring meeting where the collective ambition was felt. We look forward to continuing to build a sustainable and innovative future perspective for the Dutch aviation industry together.