Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Parking in a pandemic: Grounded planes
scramble for storage space
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, as many as
20,000 airplanes were flying in the air to carry passengers and cargo. However,
many of them are grounded because of the increasing travel restrictions across
the world. Where are those grounded airplanes parked? Since commercial airports
are primarily designed for embarking and disembarking passengers and takeoffs
and landings for airplanes, certainly not for parking airplanes for a long period
of time. There are designated parking spaces in the US that offer not only space but also maintenances. In addition to the parking fees, airlines can
choose to pay service fees to have their fleet maintained for immediate departure
if they expect travel restrictions to be lifted soon. Also, because of the
reduced flights, airports have some unused space where aircraft can be parked.
Runways. In fact, the Copenhagen airport decommissioned two of its three runways
and is offering space for airlines.
How long are those flying machines grounded?
Who will be paying the expenses to ground airplanes and the crew? One thing is
for sure.
Enjoy reading the article and think about how long
it will take to bring the aviation traffic level back to the pre-Covid 19 era.
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