As various industries, especially aviation and automotive, are applying an increasing amount of parts fabricated from carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP), proper maintenance and repair procedures are gaining importance, too. The laser is a potential tool to assist the CFRP repair process by scarfing the damage zone during the repair preparation phase. This study presents a high-power (1.5~kW) nanosecond pulsed laser for this task. Its performance is evaluated in terms of processing time, bulk material removal rate and formation of a heat affected zone. The results of the evaluation show that these lasers pose a serious challenge to conventional tools, especially in combination with additional supportive techniques for process automation.