Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport to host Australia-first aircraft recycling facility by 360-DMG

Aircraft will fly in from all over Australia to be dismantled and recycled at a major regional Queensland airport, as part of nation-first fully-sustainable operation worth potentially $100m in the future.

360-DMG; Wellcamp Airport recycling facility.

Toowoomba’s Wellcamp Airport will soon play host to an Australia-first fully-sustainable aircraft recycling facility, which will turn end-of-life planes into raw materials for reuse and upcycling.

Multinational company 360-DMG, which has centres across the world, has signed an agreement with Wagner Corporation to start work out of a hangar at Wellcamp Business Park, not far from the airport.

The company, which has more than 20 years experience in the industry, will start with a team of about 10 from next month but believes it can grow into an operation worth potentially $100m.

360-DMG chief executive Peer Hashmi with trade minister Ros Bates and Wagner Corporation chairman John Wagner.

UK-based chief executive Peer Hashmi, who signed the agreement with businessman John Wagner at March’s Avalon Airshow in the presence of Queensland trade minister Ros Bates, said the airport would allow planes to be flown in for their “last ferry” to then be dismantled.

“At Wellcamp, their mission is towards establishing an aerospace precinct, and this business is totally sustainable, which is why it made perfect sense for us to be in that precinct to provide end-of-life services,” he said.

“There are parts we’d like to recover and reuse, and the carcass and leftover material goes through upcycling.

“It’s all about sustainability and the material generated in Australia ends up in the secondary markets.”

After dismantling the aircraft and stripping it for parts that could be used in other units, the team will find materials that can be melted down and on-sold for the delivery of new planes.

This is in contrast to the current fate of Australian planes, which are either left in aircraft graveyards or scrapped by companies not involved with the industry.

Ms Hasmi said while other companies like Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage have some recycling operations in areas like Alice Springs, he said the Wellcamp facility was not to store old planes but rather completely strip and upcycle the whole machine.

“In the world there are 15,000 aircraft that need to be delivered — there’s quite a bit of new aeroplanes that need to be delivered, so the market is pretty poised,” Mr Hashmi said.

“We have 16 collection centres around the world to service the aviation and defence sectors (and) we’ll have five of these recycling centres once we’ve set up Wellcamp.”

Examples of company 360-DMG dismantling an aircraft for recycling and upcycling purposes.

Mr Hashmi said a facility of its kind had not yet been built due to the nature of the industry and value placed on aerospace-grade materials.

“Aviation recycling is a niche (so) there is a process where we can recycle everything, everything goes into the aviation sector,” he said.

“The issue is it needs to make business sense for everybody — this is not everybody’s cup of tea and you need certain skills and knowledge, so there’s a high barrier of entry.

“Because Wellcamp has been established as a manufacturing hub for aviation, it makes more sense to be there because there will be an ease in reuse and that gives us the advantage to be the pioneers in this market.”

Examples of company 360-DMG dismantling an aircraft for recycling and upcycling purposes.

Mr Hashmi said the company would take its time scaling up the Wellcamp operation, which starts with a pre-dismantled aircraft arriving from North Queensland next month.

“There are several stages we need to go through — we’ll do a collection or consolidation process, then there is the processing, and the third one is to get the machining done to go back into the market,” he said.

“The potential business could be about $100m worth of work (but) that’s seven or 10 years down the road.

“We are working with Alliance MRO and we already have our first aircraft — they’ve already stripped it down in Rockhampton.

“We can start receiving aircraft right away.”