Want to own a piece of an Aer Lingus Airbus A320?

Psst! There are companies that let you own a piece of a retired aircraft. During the recycling process, they take out some pieces and repurpose them into objets d’art – or things like luggage tags.

People into aviation will buy these and I have two myself. Years ago a British Airways Boeing 747 was cut into bits for the 10:10 charity in the UK, so I picked one up. The other piece I have is a compressor blade from a Vickers VC-10 Rolls-Royce Conway engine.

The Aircraft

EI-CVC was an Aer Lingus Airbus A320-200 named St. Kealin. The aircraft was delivered from Airbus brand new to the company in April 2001. It flew around the Irish airline’s busy European network for the next 23 or so years.

Instead of being sold on to another carrier, it was scrapped in May 2025. First, anything that can be re-used is removed and kept for spares. This usually comprises of the engines, as well as valuable items such as cockpit instruments. After that the whole frame is scrapped and what can be recycled is.

How do you own a piece of this plane?

There is a German company called Aviationtag that repurposes pieces of aircraft into luggage tags / key chains. These look like high quality items and they’re also limited edition, judging from the fact each piece is numbered.

In addition to the Aer Lingus pieces, you can get quite a few others, including from an Etihad Airbus A380. These would probably make a good Christmas gift to someone you know into planes. Happy to receive one if anyone I know is reading this, as I’ve actually flown on this plane.

Overall Thoughts

This is a pretty cool and relatively rare opportunity to own a piece of Irish aviation history. Those wanting to dive straight in can access the link to the Aer Lingus ones here.

All I need to do now is decide if I want one. I mean, buying one as a Christmas present to myself would be fine, right? I’ll have a think, but I think you and I both know it’s going to happen.

Have you ever purchased repurposed or recycled bits from an aircraft before? What do you think of these tags? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by James Petts and A320 in flight by Eluveitie, both via Wikimedia Commons.