Etihad Airways has partnered with local artists to upcycle obsolete aircraft parts as an environmentally friendly alternative of dealing with waste, that would otherwise have gone to landfill. Several pieces of art have been created from old cabin interiors, with elements from carpets to emergency equipment being transformed into works of art.
Around 94% of an aircraft can be reused or recycled at the end of its life. This could see fully functional cockpit equipment becoming a spare part for another aircraft or aluminum fuselage finding a new life as a keyring.
Using aircraft curtains, wall panels, life jackets and cabin interiors, Christine Wilson, an emerging artist from Ireland based in Dubai, designed a multidimensional upcycled art piece to encapsulate a textural zeitgeist of Etihad.
Emirati sculptor Azza Al Qubaisi’s first art piece used seat floor mounting rails as a building motif to create symmetric geometric formations that can be displayed free standing or suspended from the ceiling.
Terry Daly, executive director of Guest Experience, Brand & Marketing said: “End-of-life parts that were destined for landfill have been repurposed into beautiful art instillations by skilled artists who used rare and unwanted aircraft scraps. By collaborating with artists from the local community, our goal is to not only showcase talent within the region, but to further encourage sustainable innovation that’s good for the environment”.
The pieces of art that Etihad has commissioned are now on display at the airline’s headquarters. The airline is hoping that it will be able to commission more such pieces of art in the future.