Europe’s largest aircraft dismantling company is located in the Vale of Glamorgan on the outskirts of the small town of St Athan and is working hard. Simple Flying visited the spacious facility and learned how eCube Solutions differs from its competitors.

When you walk to the door of the eCube headquarters, you know that you have entered a geek playground. From the top of the container, you can see the fascinating view of the aircraft tail in various dismantled states, and the shredded SkyTeam fuselage is a very suitable entrance to the front desk.

In the office, more evidence of aviation love appeared. The seats in the waiting room are made of old cabin seats. On closer inspection, the side tables are actually part of the engine. The clock on the wall is window cut, and even the flowers on the desk are in a coffee pot that used to be a flight attendant.

All of this is a recognition of the aircraft recycling business, which is a relatively new division of the company. In the past few years, this eCube derivative has been helping ordinary people get their most precious aircraft parts, and it has gained fame thanks to the Quest TV show of the same name.

But this is only a small part of the business, and certainly not its core reason for existence. Through a door at the back of the office is where the real work takes place.

Step out of the office and you will come to a huge hangar that can hold up to three aircraft at the same time. Here, the aircraft will be stripped of all the most important components, from the seats and engines to the landing gear, ailerons and avionics. Parts are carefully cataloged during disassembly, and double and triple inspections are performed using strict quality control procedures to ensure that all items are properly recorded and marked.

There were no planes inside when we visited, but this was just to highlight the huge scale of the huge space occupied by this company. This is only the first of three hangars it owns. Outside the hangar, we can see engine fairings, nose cones, wing parts, etc., all of which have been carefully organized and ready to be packaged.

A series of flags were hung on the roof to commemorate the arrival of some countries by the plane to face their ultimate destiny.

Go out and have a panoramic view of the endless airplane scenery. Wide-body and narrow-body machines crowded the scene, some were parked on the hood, and some were in various dismantled states. When we went, there were at least 10 planes waiting in line for attention, but this number was rising and falling almost every day.

You might think that, given what happened in 2020, a company like eCube will be on the verge of bankruptcy. However, the impact of COVID is actually quite different from what was expected. Although eCube must have seen the arrival of new types of aircraft, including many British Airways 747 aircraft, the overall result is that the number of arrivals is less than expected that year. Chief Commercial Officer and co-founder Mike Corme told us,

"If you look at a service industry database like Cirium, it will also prove that there are very few aircraft retirements in the world in 2020. My view is that the industry has been in a state of suspended animation since the beginning of COVID, and it has not yet fully emerged."

The downturn of aircraft from lessors in 2020 was partially offset by the arrival of 20 British Airways 747 aircraft. In fact, the absolute number is 21, because its vintage BOAC 747 is also in the hands of eCube, but fortunately it will be retained.

Despite this, the site is still busy and full of life, and all types of aircraft are operating at the same time. eCube has facilities to separate aircraft inside the hangar and outside the apron, making it flexible enough and capable of handling multiple projects at the same time.

Since its establishment, eCube has always focused on doing better and more efficient than its competitors. This partly means bringing in many tasks that are usually outsourced. In a conversation with Tim Schmidt, CEO of eCube, he explained that one of the first employees hired by the company was a carpenter who was responsible for making custom crates for all parts to be shipped out safely. hangar. He commented,

"When you look at the craftsmanship of these crates, it may seem a bit overkill. But when you look at the cost of certain parts that you carry for someone, why are you doing it incorrectly?"

The box itself is a work of art. It's not just crates assembled by eCube itself. Schmidt explained,

"We made a lot of tools in-house to help us remove parts faster or more safely and with better quality. So, we have several manufacturing staff-welding manufacturers-who help us make special tools."

The company not only manufactures hand tools and small parts for safe and efficient disassembly, but also manufactures large items such as APU brackets, shoulder straps and slings, all of which are to make things safer and easier to handle. All items removed from the plane are placed in customized boxes and then placed in place with a forklift, which not only protects the health of the workers, but also protects the integrity of the parts.

Like all other companies in the world, eCube has also felt the impact of COVID. Although some administrative tasks can be done at home, most employees need to stay on site for obvious reasons. This means some tricky changes, but the company calmly dealt with it.

Steven Taylor, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at eCube commented,

"These processes are in place, and we have not closed it once. The eCube has been kept open, which is incredible. This is all about taking the right measures, such as keeping the mask at a distance."

For workers in large hangars, maintaining social distancing is not too tricky in most cases. There are some challenges in the demolition process. For example, when large or bulky items need to be removed, two or more people need to work closely together.

The biggest challenge is social issues, such as the use of company canteens and toilets. This is alleviated by staggered rest periods, possible one-way systems, and other measures. Therefore, eCube continued to work during each lockdown period, and no major COVID outbreak occurred among its employees.

As the aviation industry begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel, eCube is preparing for the arrival of a new wave of decommissioned aircraft. Contrary to popular belief, the number of aircraft sent to such obsolete facilities in 2020 is less than expected, but this situation may intensify as the situation begins to normalize again.

In response to this potentially high demand, eCube has been expanded to be able to work on seven aircraft at the same time. It puts itself in a leading position, so when demand does increase, it is ready to turn on this additional capacity.

Editor-in-Chief-Joanna has worked in publishing for more than a decade and is quickly becoming the preferred source of commercial aviation analysis. She provides commentary for BBC, CNBC, Reuters Thomson and other media. She works closely with IATA, AviaDev and various airlines and suppliers to understand the inside story of the global market.