See Inside One of the World’s Largest Aircraft ‘Boneyards’ in Arizona

in April, the Aviation Circularity Consortium, including Australia’s flag carrier Qantas and other groups, was established as part of a “shared mission to accelerate supply chain decarbonization.”

The plan is to use the 8,000 “end-of-life retired aircraft” found in deserts, jungles and warehouses around the world. Another 11,000 are expected to become available over the next 10 years.

According to the consortium, the thousands of decommissioned aircraft offer “a new source of valuable circular materials” and address “significant challenges related to waste pollution in increasingly restricted legal graveyards around the world.”

These “graveyards” began to fill up during the pandemic, when airlines had to make drastic cost-cutting changes, including furloughing pilots, eliminating routes and storing hundreds of planes indefinitely. planes in the desert.

One such facility is Pinal Air Park in Marana, Arizona, a small town about 90 miles southeast of Phoenix.

As airlines began to wind down in 2020, hundreds of planes from around the world flew into the 2,080-acre airport park.

With this influx, Pinal had to take special precautions to ensure the plane was ready to fly once travel finally bounced back.

For this reason, Ascent Aviation Services – the largest aviation services provider at the airfield – has had to increase its staff to maintain consistent arrivals.

Leasing companies were also filling the airfield after buying cheap planes sold during COVID and storing them in Pinal.

Inside a remote Arizona airplane graveyard, where nearly 300 planes grounded by the pandemic are stored

However, with travel returning in full force and demand poised to surpass 2019 levels, AAS has returned to its roots: maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO).

Basic offerings include simple maintenance checks and on-demand repairs, such as landing gear repair or flight control inspection.

However, heavy maintenance is the most costly for airlines. This involves a full assessment of the aircraft and can take up to 60 days for large jets, Butler said.

“A narrow body will cost around $2 million,” he told BI in May 2023. “With widebodies, you’re easily looking at $3 million.”

The main service it cannot provide is engine overhaul, which is outsourced to other workshops.

“A lot of our current projects are just waiting for engines,” Butler told BI. “There is a delay because no one has been servicing the engines during COVID because of the expense.”

During a tour of the airpark in April 2023, BI found the main lot filled with aircraft, including two rare Boeing 747SPs.

Butler told BI that stored aircraft also undergo regular maintenance checks to keep them airworthy.