USM (Used Serviceable Material): the certified used-parts market in Africa

In commercial aviation, every part has a story. That story — a serial number, flight hours, cycles, inspections, repairs, the workshop that removed it — becomes economic value the moment it is documented end-to-end. This traceability is precisely what transforms a part removed from a retired aircraft into a USM, for Used Serviceable Material, a certified used part fit to fly again. The global USM market is now worth around USD 5 billion and grows by more than 6 % a year. For Africa, and for Algeria in particular, it is far more than a market segment: it is a lever for industrial independence, a cost-reduction tool for operators, and a pillar of the aerospace circular economy.

What is a USM (Used Serviceable Material)

A USM is an aircraft part that has been previously installed and operated, removed from an aircraft or engine, then inspected, tested and re-certified by an approved workshop to be installed on another aircraft. The American term Used Serviceable Material and its European counterpart Serviceable Used Part cover the same technical reality: a non-new but documented and traceable part, accompanied by an official airworthiness release certificate.

Three statuses, often confused in mainstream coverage, must be distinguished:

• New part: produced by the OEM (Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, engine and equipment manufacturers), never installed, delivered with its Certificate of Conformity.
• Overhauled / Repaired: a part that has undergone a complete overhaul or deep repair, restored to a state defined by the OEM maintenance manuals, with a fresh service life in hours and cycles.
• USM (Used Serviceable): a part removed and declared serviceable as-is, or after limited inspection, without heavy overhaul. Its residual potential (hours, cycles, calendar) is known and documented.

The economic difference is significant: a USM typically sells for 30 % to 70 % of the new price, sometimes less for high-turnover components. For an airline operating an ageing fleet, the cumulative saving over a maintenance year can amount to several million dollars.

The global USM market: ~USD 5 billion, +6 % per year

According to aggregated estimates from specialised consultancies and aviation recycling industry bodies, the global USM market is worth between USD 4.5 and 5.5 billion in 2025, within a global MRO market of more than USD 100 billion. Annual growth exceeds 6 %, driven by several structural dynamics.

First, the average age of global fleets is increasing. The Airbus A320ceo, Boeing 737NG and Boeing 777-200ER generations are gradually reaching the second half of their service life, when heavy maintenance intensifies and USM becomes economically decisive compared with new-price catalogue items.

Second, retirements are accelerating. More than 600 commercial aircraft are retired from service every year worldwide. Each is a potential source of thousands of exploitable references, from actuators and computers to seats, landing gears and engines.

Third, economic and environmental pressures converge. Cost pressure pushes airlines toward properly certified USM solutions; environmental pressure rewards extended material life and reduced industrial waste.

The African USM market: structural deficit, Algerian opportunity

Africa operates more than 1,200 registered commercial aircraft, a significant share of which is more than fifteen years old. Yet the continent has no integrated reference USM operator covering the full chain: qualified parting-out, inspection, retest, certification, market placement.

As a result, African airlines source their USM primarily from Europe, North America and the Middle East. Logistics costs, lead times and broker dependency weigh on African maintenance economics. The situation calls for a continental industrial response.

Algeria offers a rare combination of strengths: a Saharan climate favourable to long-term storage (low humidity, few freeze-thaw cycles), the surface area to build very large industrial platforms, competitive land and energy costs, and a young population to train in technical aerospace trades. The ambition of AéroNéo Algeria is to address this opportunity by building, in time, a recycling and USM management hub aligned on best global standards.

Back-to-birth traceability: the economic backbone of USM

A used part is worth nothing without its file. In aviation, documentation is value. The back-to-birth traceability concept consists in reconstructing the full history of a part from its original manufacture to its last flight: OEM serial number, successive installation and removal dates, accumulated flight hours and cycles, maintenance events, repairs, compliance with Airworthiness Directives and Service Bulletins.

For life-limited parts (LLP) — typically engine turbine disks and certain critical landing-gear items — back-to-birth traceability is not optional: it is a market admissibility condition. An LLP without a complete file is unsellable, whatever its visible condition. Conversely, an LLP with a flawless file and residual cycle potential trades on a structured, liquid secondary market.

For on-condition parts, traceability remains a powerful transaction accelerator: a cautious buyer will pay more for a part with a known genealogy than for a technically identical part without a reliable history.

Key documents: EASA Form 1, FAA 8130-3, dual release

The USM documentary world is organised around a few globally recognised standardised forms.

• EASA Form 1: authorised release certificate issued by an approved Part-145 organisation, certifying that the part complies with approved data and is fit for service.
• FAA 8130-3: the US counterpart, issued by a FAR Part 145 certified Repair Station, explicitly stating the status (new, overhauled, repaired, inspected/tested, as removed).
• Dual release: simultaneous EASA Form 1 + FAA 8130-3 release, essential to circulate a part on both major global markets.
• Certificates of origin and traceability statements: additional documents attesting to the chain of custody, often required by operators or leasing companies.

The absence of any of these documents, or a discontinuity in the traceability chain, immediately and sharply degrades a USM’s market value.

USM sourcing: end-of-life aircraft, retrofits, lessor surplus

Where do USM come from? Three main sources feed the market.

1. End-of-life aircraft retired from service and dismantled to the AFRA standard. A single widebody can yield several thousand exploitable references, with cumulative USM value sometimes exceeding the recycled airframe value.
2. Retrofit and modernisation programs: cabin reconfiguration, avionics upgrade, P2F (passenger-to-freighter) conversion. Components removed in good condition rejoin the USM market.
3. Lessor and airline surplus stocks: restructured fleets, rebalanced pools, lease end-of-life. These stocks are often resold in lots to USM specialists.

High-value components: a stratified market

Not all USM are equal. The table below summarises the main families and their typical secondary-market value, as a percentage of the new price and in unit-level order of magnitude.

Component	Family	USM value (% of new)	Unit order of magnitude
Complete engine	Propulsion / major LRU	20 – 50 %	USD 2 – 8 M
Engine modules (HPC, HPT, LPT)	Propulsion	25 – 55 %	USD 0.3 – 2 M
Complete APU	Auxiliary power	30 – 60 %	USD 150 – 400 k
Landing gear	Movable structure	30 – 60 %	USD 200 – 800 k
Avionics computers (FMC, IRU)	Avionics	40 – 70 %	USD 20 – 120 k
Movable surfaces (flaps, control surfaces)	Structure	30 – 50 %	USD 30 – 200 k
Cabin seats, galleys	Cabin	20 – 50 %	USD 1 – 15 k / unit
Wheels, brakes	Landing gear	30 – 60 %	USD 5 – 25 k

Engines and their modules alone represent more than half of the USM value generated by an end-of-life aircraft. They are followed by APUs, landing gears and avionics, then by structural and cabin items.

USM logistics chain: dismantling, inspection, retest, certification

Turning an aircraft into marketable USM is a demanding industrial process that mobilises several trades in sequence.

1. Controlled dismantling (parting-out) per the Aircraft Maintenance Manuals, in an approved environment. Each removed part is traced, tagged and photographed.
2. Inspection — visual, dimensional and functional. Critical parts undergo non-destructive testing (NDT): dye penetrant, magnetic particle, ultrasonic, eddy current, and tomography for certain composite parts.
3. Retest and functional bench testing for complex LRUs: actuators, computers, APUs, engine modules.
4. Possible reconditioning in a Part-145 workshop if the part needs upgrading to reach its intended commercial status.
5. Certification through the issue of EASA Form 1 and/or FAA 8130-3, integration into the quality system, sealing of the back-to-birth file.
6. Storage in a controlled warehouse (temperature, humidity), with management of calendar dates and OEM preservation conditions.
7. Market placement on specialised platforms and to institutional buyers.

Regulatory framework: ANAC, ICAO, IATA, EASA, FAA

The USM regulatory framework is multi-layered. In Algeria, the reference authority is ANAC (Autorité Nationale de l’Aviation Civile), under the Algerian Civil Aviation Code. Any maintenance, recycling and aircraft-parts trading activity on national territory falls under its approval and continuous supervision.

Internationally, several frameworks overlap:

• ICAO: annexes to the Chicago Convention, in particular Annex 8 (airworthiness) and Annex 6 (operations).
• IATA: standards and guidance, in particular around traceability and quality.
• EASA Part-145 and Part-21: approvals for maintenance and production organisations, applicable to workshops handling parts destined for the European market.
• FAA FAR Part 145: US counterpart for the United States market.
• AFRA BMP: best management practices standard for aircraft dismantling and recycling.

ANAC sets the local approval framework. EASA, FAA and AFRA standards open global markets. Multi-framework compliance is the export key.

USM market players

The global USM ecosystem is organised around four broad player categories, without naming any specific competitor:

• Recyclers and dismantlers, specialised in parting-out and end-of-life aircraft valorisation, often AFRA members.
• Brokers and traders, intermediaries connecting buyers and sellers, sometimes holding their own stocks and operating on major aerospace B2B platforms.
• Leasing companies, which own a major share of global fleets and constantly arbitrate between retention, conversion, leasing and dismantling.
• MROs, which consume USM as input for their maintenance jobs and produce USM through their removal and repair activities.

This globalised and heavily documented market structure leaves the door open to new entrants, provided they quickly reach the expected documentary and technical standards.

AéroNéo’s role: Green Recycling, AFRA pathway, continental USM ambition

AéroNéo Algeria is currently in pre-launch. The ambition is clear: build an integrated player covering the entire end-of-life and USM chain, from long-term aircraft storage in Saharan climate to controlled dismantling, part certification and market placement.

Three pillars structure the roadmap:

1. Green Recycling: alignment with the AFRA BMP standard, rigorous depollution, materials recovery (aluminium, titanium, composites, precious metals from electronic boards).
2. Continental USM: progressive certification capacity build-up (Part-145), partnerships with European and North American workshops for dual release, commercial platform for African airlines.
3. Training and sovereignty: local training in technical trades (B1, B2, NDT, quality control, logistics), contribution to Algerian industrial sovereignty in aviation maintenance.

Outlook 2030+: SAF, materials recycling, circular economy

By 2030 and beyond, several trends converge and will reinforce the economic role of USM.

First, the decarbonisation of air transport, driven by SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) and operational efficiency, does not eliminate the existing fleet: it extends its role and increases the value of USM components that keep these aircraft in service.

Second, materials recycling is progressing. Aerospace aluminium alloys, titanium, engine superalloys and carbon composites are becoming strategic secondary materials. Aircraft dismantling is moving closer to a high-tech urban mine.

Third, digitalisation of traceability (digital product passport, documentary blockchain, digital twin of critical parts) will make the USM market even smoother and more reliable. Players who master these tools will gain a competitive edge.

For Algeria, and for Africa as a whole, the window of opportunity is open. Building a continental USM industry, anchored on ANAC and aligned with EASA, FAA, ICAO and AFRA standards, is a first-rank industrial project. AéroNéo intends to play its full part.