How Retired Planes Are Stripped For Parts

When airplanes are retired, many of them end up stripped for parts that are worth millions of dollars. Almost every component from engines to landing gear. Those parts are in high demand — Boeing and Airbus are behind on deliveries of new aircraft and sold out of planes through the latter part of the decade, just as airlines are trying to capitalize on a resurgence in bookings. What's left over often ends up crushed for scrap metal but parts of the planes are sometimes turned into high-end furniture or even keychains.

The used-aircraft parts trade is a small but important part of global spending on airplane maintenance, repair and overhaul, which Oliver Wyman expects to reach $94 billion this year.