Icelandair first time works on dismantling a Boeing 757; Aluminium to be sorted for recycling

The flag carrier airline of Iceland, Icelandair has for the first time started the work of dismantling a Boeing 757, locally in Iceland. It is TF-FIJ, Boeing 757-200 that will slowly but surely be dismantled. The work is part of reducing the fleet by older 757 and it will be carried out by the company's mechanics in a hangar at the airport at Keflavik.

This aircraft was on a verge of large maintenance that was supposed to take place in the first quarter of next 2021, but the economy suggested that a lot of money was saved on rather chopping it up and getting rid of it, rather than taking this main service.

The first aircraft that the company itself dismantles is almost 27 years in service, now parts of the aircraft will be delivered to the Icelandic Aviation Museum in Akureyri, while the rest components of the aircraft will be sent for recycling.

The major equipment of the cockpit has been taken out and will be used as spare parts for the company's other 757, while aluminium will be sorted for recycling purposes.

There are a total of eight mechanics working on picking this first aircraft apart. TF-FIJ was delivered as new to Britannia Airways in 1991; however, Icelandair bought the aircraft only two years later in 1993.

The last trip in the service of the Icelandic company was completed in February 2020. The work of dismantling this aircraft is the largest job of its kind ever done in Iceland.