Stunning footage has revealed how more than 400 jetliners grounded by the coronavirus pandemic have been parked in the California desert.

Pilot Bryan Keith was given access to fly his Grumman Tiger over the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville where the dry climate minimizes the risk of rust.

Planes owned by Southwest, Delta, FedEx and other major commercial and cargo carriers sit idle under the desert sun after having their wings clipped by worldwide lockdowns.

The Victorville facility in California is a decommissioned Air Force base. Last year, Southwest Airlines began storing its fleet of Boeing 737 Max jets there after the airplane was grounded following two fatal crashes.

But now with demand for flights plummeting amid the coronavirus pandemic, and with thousands of aircraft grounded, airlines began to hit an unprecedented problem: finding a place to park them.

The site has the capacity to store up to 500 planes, according to the company that manages it, and is thought to be nearing that.

The dry climate of these storage facilities helps reduce the risk of rust, minimizing the maintenance required to bring the planes back into service when the pandemic nightmare ends.

Alongside the Boeing 737 Max jets already being stored there, they are now joined by Boeing 747, 757, and 767, Airbus A310, A320 and McDonnell-Douglas MD-10 and MD-11 aircraft.

Pilot Keith said: 'Wow, this is a scene. I wonder how many billions of dollars of jets are down there.

'I want to give a big shout out to the tower controllers at KVCV that were kind enough to let me do a flyover on the closed runway to see all the airplanes.'

Taxiways, maintenance hangars and even runways at major airports around the world are being transformed into giant parking lots.

In Frankfurt, Germany's biggest airport was a ghost town of silent airliners. Its northwest landing runway, including taxiways and bridges, was converted to an aircraft parking lot for Lufthansa, Condor and other airlines.

Similar crowds of planes were parked at other major airports, including Hong Kong, Seoul, Berlin and Vienna as well as traditional desert parking lots, like this one in Victorville and Marana, Arizona.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8247971/Grounded-Stunning-footage-shows-400-passenger-jets-sitting-idle-California-desert.html

Recalled Boeing 737 Max jets were already being stored there; they are now joined by Boeing 747, 757, and 767, Airbus A310, A320 and McDonnell-Douglas MD-10 and MD-11 aircraft

Taxiways, maintenance hangars and runways at major airports around the world are being transformed into giant parking lots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIbXai0l174
Video of the flight by Pilot Bryan Keith

cc: lalasticlala, seun

Benin Airways no dey park like this.

Na untop bed the aircraft dey sleep when not in service

Na WA see wetin broda corona do d word

good they should rest for awhile biko

Enoch07:

you are a crossbreed between a ram and a cow

The offspring would be an animal found only in the cages of zoogeria.

Park plane anyhow for naija men don move the blackbox,entire cockpit, engine,seat.
alaba after covid 19. Blos buy ur original ladio. straight from japan. it can play anywhere. ladipo: buy your executive seat here. If na ethopian airline seat they will remove "pian airline" and put "sco chairs"=ethosco chairs
on a serious note this thing serious. I pity airline operators. how airpeace go survive. i will advice allen onyeama to use his planes and run mainland to island as lockdown has been eased.

Just when I was thinking of starting my own airline company.

The coast isn't clear now for air travel - the mode of transport that aided the spread of Covid-19.