Airbus and a group of partners that includes SITA France Groupe Suez and Snecma Services have launched a new company that will specialize in dismantling end-of-life aircraft and recycling and reusing the resulting parts.

The new company, named TARMAC AEROSAVE, which is short for Tarbes Advanced Recycling & Maintenance Aircraft Co., will be based in Tarbes in southwestern France and represents the industrial phase of a test project launched last year.

The objective of the the project, known as PAMELA (Process for Advanced Management of End of Life Aircraft), was to demonstrate that by 2015, 85 percent of an aircraft's parts could be re-used, recovered or recycled in secure and environmentally friendly conditions. TARMAC also will offer its customers short-term aircraft storage.

Partners in the company include Airbus, SITA France, a subsidiary of waste management company SITA Suez, Snecma Services, Equip' Aero, Dubai-based Airbus subsidiary TASC Aviation, which trades in aircraft parts, and Aeroconseil.