Where world's jetliners are mothballed
Hundreds of huge passenger planes squatting on the desert floor instead of soaring through the sky.
"We are about the only place that airplanes do not come to die," said Vern Alexander, director of commercial business development for Avtel Services.
The storage facility operated by Avtel is one of four giant storage lots across the desert where the world's airlines have parked more than 800 jets since last year's terrorist attacks.
Some of the largest jets in the world, including Boeing 747s and 777s along with dozens of 737s, 727s and Airbus A320s, have been grounded at the Mojave Desert graveyards.
Alexander's comment is a boast considering that on the edge of the Mojave Airport, where Avtel operates, sits a giant crunching machine waiting to turn its next victim into fodder for the nation's beverage-can industry.
But it is reasonably accurate considering that Avtel is the only Federal Aviation Administration-certified, full-service heavy maintenance center, which also operates a storage lot, in the southwest United States.
Some storage facilities, such as Avtel, are chosen because they protect an entire plane, while others cannibalize the parts.
Jets from US Airways, American Airlines, Federal Express, Continental, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Ansett Airlines, American Trans Air, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines and about a dozen other carriers are stored at the two facilities in California.
Clusters of three groups
At the Mojave Airport, planes are clustered in three groups on hard-packed sand surrounding the only runway.
At nearby Victorville, Calif., planes are lined up, in three rows alongside the 50,000-foot runway, as if awaiting takeoff. It's the longest runway in North America, and its entire length will be occupied if the world's airlines keep grounding their jets at the current rate.
But the nearly 300 newer birds sitting here and the more than 250 at the former George Air Force Base, now known as Southern California Logistical Airport, in Victorville aren't wasting away.
After a seven-page checklist, the engines are sealed against blowing sand; corrosion-inducing liquids are drained from tanks and hoses; corrosion inhibitors are applied to latches; and a stabilizer such as Biobor JF is added to fuel in the aircraft's wings.
In the interior the carpeting is covered, life rafts are removed and seats are encased in plastic. In the cockpit, each seat and the controls are covered in plastic. In both areas, windows are covered with foil-based Mylar to keep out the fabric-bleaching rays of the sun.
Even the tires are wrapped in a fabric covering to prevent the rubber from degrading in the heat.
The instructions are precise:
"Position nose into prevailing wind where possible."
"Cover all openings, including Pitot tubes, static ports, TAT probes. Attach red streamers, taped in place to prevent chafing of skin. Note: Assure that the tape adhesive does not enter static port."
And in a daily routine from April 15 to Oct. 15, doors to the planes are opened and closed to ensure the interiors never exceed the ambient temperature by more than a few degrees. It's an important precaution considering the interior temperature of an enclosed plane can quickly top 200 degrees.
Three hundred rolls of special 3M tape, costing $20 per roll, are used each week to attach the Mylar and ensure it remains in place.
So exacting is the work that each step is performed by an FAA-certified mechanic and it has to be checked by an FAA-certified inspector.
And storage companies, such as Avtel, have only seven days in which to complete the mummifying process. A plane begins rapidly deteriorating without protection.
"One day last fall we had 16 planes circling the field" waiting to land and be put into storage, Alexander, of Avtel, said.
Other than the heat, it is a perfect environment for preserving a plane, with virtually no humidity to corrode a plane's delicate parts and metal hinges.
"It's a dry heat," said John White, president of Aviation Assurance at Southern California Aviation, which operates a storage yard at the former air force base in Victorville.
Don't be fooled. It is just plain hot.
Nearly 10 percent of the world's airplanes are sitting idle, about half in the desert with the rest in short-term storage at airports around the globe awaiting a return to the sky.
Ninety percent likely will return to the skies, some for the original owner. Most of the older planes will be sold. Those are the planes that are grounded first by the airlines.
For years, the nation's airlines have used the desert storage yards to help manage the peaks and valleys in their operations, grounding some planes during the winter when traffic is lower.
But last fall, the terrorist attacks prompted a dramatic drop in passengers, causing airlines to slash their schedules by 20 percent.
United and American Airlines quickly moved to ground their Boeing 727s that still were flying and any of their first-generation Boeing 737 jets. Continental grounded many of its Boeing 757s. Virtually all of the country's airlines grounded some of their fleet.
Southwest Airlines, which did not ground any of its operating fleet, chose to park nearly a dozen of its newly built jets as it waited for passenger demand to redevelop.
Even Boeing has parked new jets here after airlines hard-hit by the downturn said they'd prefer not taking delivery of the planes they'd ordered years earlier.
A year after the attacks, the nation's airlines say passenger traffic still has not recovered.
As a result, soon hundreds more planes will be winging their way toward the desert Southwest for storage here, at Victorville, near Phoenix and Roswell, N.M.
In September, American, United, Northwest, Delta and Continental announced plans to cut the number of flights in the next few months, a move that will result in thousands more airline employees losing their jobs. And American said it will permanently ground its entire fleet of Fokker F100 jets. Passenger traffic isn't rebounding as rapidly as hoped, and more jets were grounded by U.S. airlines hoping to find profitability.
Last year, the world's airlines lost a combined $10 billion. This year isn't expected to be much better. Estimates show U.S. airlines will lose a combined $7 billion, just $200 million less than they did in 2001.
Fewer flights than a year ago
About 12 percent fewer flights are being operated now than a year ago, when the nation's 10 largest carriers made more than 17,600 flights daily.
But mothballing a jet isn't cheap.
According to Alexander, it costs an average of about $6,000 just to park a plane and prepare it for storage. Monthly charges run $300 and up depending upon the procedure the owner wants.
Considering that one of these planes can cost $50 million or more, however, this is cheaper than letting it deteriorate in a high-humidity climate.
"American and Continental want the most done with their planes," said Alexander, noting that both have assigned inspectors to Avtel since the groundings began last fall to ensure their standards are met. "They're the gold standard."
Others, such as banks and aircraft-leasing companies, require only the minimum to protect their multimillion-dollar investments.
Even if the owners don't hope to return them to service within the United States, nearly all are trying to sell the jets to startups or the hundreds of foreign-owned carriers seeking to cheaply upgrade their fleets. Many of the jets will be sold for 10 percent of their original purchase price. For example, a Boeing 737-100 likely will sell for only $2 million to $3 million.
This year, nearly 90 former US Airways jets were sold to Jetran International, a Dallas company co-owned by Justin Jaffe, at fire-sale prices. Jetran, which buys and sells used planes and parts, has sold virtually all the jets at a huge profit. Many older planes, such as the Lockheed L-1011, McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and DC-8s that airlines have held onto in hopes of a new use, soon could be heading to the crusher because of the glut of newer planes being hawked for sale.
Most of these planes were parked when their engines required major overhauls and the airline faced a choice of paying for expensive maintenance or buying a newer plane.
Despite the glut of planes in the desert, White is confident most will be flying again.
"We're pretty good at finding homes so they don't just have to sit here," he said.