It’s no surprise that airlines have been grounding many of their planes. The major US carriers are literally parking hundreds of planes as demand for air travel has more or less dried up.
The extent of groundings and flight cancellations is basically changing by the day as airlines continue to adapt.
American Airlines has sent over some pictures of their stored aircraft, which really puts the situation into perspective.
American is storing aircraft throughout the system, though primarily at four airports. Here are those airports, along with the type of aircraft being stored at each:
- Tulsa, Oklahoma (TUL): 737 MAX 8, 757, 777-200, 777-300ER, 787-8, 787-9
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PIT): A320, A321, A330, E-190
- Roswell, New Mexico (ROW): 737 MAX 8, 737-800, 757, 767, 777-200
- Mobile, Alabama (BFM): A321, 777-200
Here are some pictures American has shared of their planes parked in Tulsa, where they currently have about 50 planes parked, and counting:
Meanwhile here are some pictures American has shared of their planes parked in Pittsburgh, where they currently have about 20 planes parked, and counting:
What a sad sight… hopefully the world heals soon, so these planes can get back in the air!
In addition to grounding many aircraft type, American is also retiring all 757s, 767s, A330-200s, and Embraer 190s, as well as select 737-800s.
On the plus side, at least the 737 MAXs are less lonely now, maybe?
AA cancelled half of my trip from Hong Kong to Lax and Dallas to Hong Kong but refuses to cancel middle legs hoping that will charge all for no show. Battling for 4K usd, looks like I will need a lawyer here.
American Airlines is the largest airline in the world. You get to be the largest by being the best. I am proud to be a 28 year retiree of this airline. All the thousands of employees that have been laid off because of this virus are in my prayers. I know their fears. You will return. Perhaps not all at once of course. I do not think this is the time for any company to...
American Airlines is the largest airline in the world. You get to be the largest by being the best. I am proud to be a 28 year retiree of this airline. All the thousands of employees that have been laid off because of this virus are in my prayers. I know their fears. You will return. Perhaps not all at once of course. I do not think this is the time for any company to suffer loss because of a country that with held information about this virus and allow people to travel and leave their country as China has done. The loss of lives, jobs, company closings all lay at their doorstep. I pray this is short lived and people follow the guidelines for safety. No one is exempt otherwise. We are all suffering from China's short sitedness. This is not the time for immaturity to think you have been given a party time vacation as some of our younger citizens have thought.
@D3KingAmerican - found the comment hilarious in dark times. Keep it up
@Jesse haha well I’m sure there’s quite a few smart ones in Huntsville aka rocket city .
D3KingAmerican: Ha. Ha. Ha. Soooooo funny (eyeroll). I'm from Alabama, and I don't talk like that or sound that uneducated (I have 2 Master's degrees, actually). The "Alabamians are slow, stupid and backwards idiots" jokes get old quite quickly.
@Sharon - CLT has a couple of A330s and some A320s, and a few CRJs. For a large (pax wise) airport though it doesn’t really have much space available - it’s more a place where planes to come and go vs. stay. Also, cargo is still a big part of CLT and so needs access. There’s runway 5/23 which is sometimes used for taxiing, but it’s active so that’s not really viable for storage.
@Nelson...
@Sharon - CLT has a couple of A330s and some A320s, and a few CRJs. For a large (pax wise) airport though it doesn’t really have much space available - it’s more a place where planes to come and go vs. stay. Also, cargo is still a big part of CLT and so needs access. There’s runway 5/23 which is sometimes used for taxiing, but it’s active so that’s not really viable for storage.
@Nelson - Engines don’t have to be covered. Depending on the location (ie there’s maintenance to look after them), they can easily be spooled up for 30 mins a week, electrical systems powered up for a couple of hours every couple of weeks, and every month moving the control surfaces, turning the tires a third of a wheel’s turn to prevent flat spots, and draining the fuel tank sumps of water. The main thing to cover are sensors like the pitot tubes. If stored for longer or at places where there aren’t maintenance to look after them, they’ll cover everything up - including taping up fuselage joints, but planes stored that way take far longer to get back into service. You’re talking weeks vs days.
Makes me feel very sad because I love to fly but also a bit worried about how these planes will be when things get better .
I don't think I want to be on the first few flights that go out .
United is storing a lot of 737s and E145s in Cleveland
Many of these planes will not be flying again. It will take many years for aviation to bounce back from this.
I agree with others on maintenance as well. When I worked on P3's in the Navy those planes needed to be in the air, sitting on the ground stuff just went bad.
I assume that just to keep in practice, they are cramming, jamming and squeezing defenseless people in these planes as tightly as they can so they are up to speed when they get back to flying again. Maybe they can have the mechanics reduce the size of the restrooms a few more inches while they sit. Don't want to let this opportunity go to waste. Oh, wait. Never mind. They're busy coming to the American taxpayers for billion in handouts.
AA has grounded some aircraft but not all. I am a flight attendant and still flying.
Airplanes that are stored need regular maintenance. Tires will flat spot quickly if the planes aren’t moved forward or backward on some regular basis. Engines have to be turned run to prevent the carbon seals inside from flat spotting. And systems need to be exercised, flaps, AC, etc. When I was in the Air Force the B-52’s that weren’t flying were pushed back or forward 1/3 of the tire diameter every eight hours to prevent flat spotting.
Mark, the 777-200s will all fly again and for many years. The 767's are all going to be cargo planes. 757's retired.
Looks like after 9-11.
They should send them to the scrap dealers now as it's not like 777-200s will ever fly again.
Why do they have to fly them to remote airports? wouldn't it be simpler to just keep them at the airports they last were at when the flights were cut? Unless they're doing fleetwide maintenance what is the advantage of having the whole fleet in one place? Or is it a question of airport charges?
Delta is storing 25 planes in Marana AZ.
As someone else said, surprised the jet engines are not covered to protect from windblown debris.
These pictures make me sad. I flew via DFW yesterday to get home after being on one of the infamous unwelcome cruise ships (Norwegian Jewel) for almost a month. The usually vibrant airport looked like it was down to the few stragglers like me still making their way home. Sometimes looked like more pilots, gate agents, and flight attendants than passengers. Never thought I would feel this stuck at home in the US. (And yes,...
These pictures make me sad. I flew via DFW yesterday to get home after being on one of the infamous unwelcome cruise ships (Norwegian Jewel) for almost a month. The usually vibrant airport looked like it was down to the few stragglers like me still making their way home. Sometimes looked like more pilots, gate agents, and flight attendants than passengers. Never thought I would feel this stuck at home in the US. (And yes, I know there are others suffering much more serious problems. No intent to minimize the pain do many are feeling.)
Ah, Pittsburgh. The airport that was built for US Air and then the airline screwed them. Nice normal pricing on food, etc.
American stopped all flights to Brazil, United, Delta and Latam keept normal operations (between US and BR) and now are benefiting from the demand. Apparently they are maintaining profitable flights, not from tourists but from citizens returning home to their respective countries.
PIT for Airbii makes sense. For one, PIT has ample amount of empty space. Also, AA has its Airbii maintenance base in PIT from pmUSAir. This probably applies to the other airport AA chose to park each type of planes.
Wow. Shows you the magnitude of things.
How /where did you find these pics?
Also once they park the planes what sort of maintenance is required if any? I read somewhere that the tires need to be rotated regularly but not sure if that's true.
At least A7-registered planes are lucky enough not to be grounded, and to escape the fate that has befallen most airlines that are not QR.
Doesn’t a month ago seem like a year ago now? My heart is breaking for everyone in the world right now.
PHX would make sense except we limited space to store planes at Sky Harbor.
at the rate things are going, directly parking them at Mojave is gonna save airlines some money from the inevitable one-way re-positioning flights.
Looks sad.
So many planes grounded. Any planes in Dallas or Charlotte still?
I feel like CLT would be the most obvious option since its an empty airport without American operating. And Phoenix would be good too since it has a nice climate.
Where are the regionals being stored?
I tell ya when that triple seven done landed here in Mobile Alabama ‘‘twas the biggest dang Cessna I ever seen. Merica !
What surprises me most is that I seen the engines are not covered which usual is done to avoid birds etc...
This could not have happened at a better time for Boeing with the 737MAX debacle. Talk about lucky (dark, but lucky).