UNITED STATES – Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the airline industry has suffered near-crippling financial losses with declines in bookings, and quarantines. The travel industry as a whole has realized an 80% estimated losses in global revenue compared to last year, largely a consequence of reduced tourism. Globally, there are an estimated 16,000 planes that have been grounded. Though some airlines have repurposed passenger planes to transport cargo to stave off bankruptcy, well over half of the entire world’s air fleet remains grounded due to COVID-19 and bans/fear of travel.

Airbus A340-313X [CC-CQE] & Douglas MD-83 ‘N619SC,’ Photo by Alan Wilson

Kevin Micheals, Managing Director of AeroDynamic Advisory: Aerospace Consulting, stated that “it is somewhere around 60 percent of the aircraft fleet that is currently sitting idle. Though we’ve had aircraft storage facilities spanning across the globe for decades, what’s unique in this event is the sudden mass of parking.”

Paul Oliver, the Vice President of customer service at Airbus, noted in an interview with CNBC that air fleet “customers have come to us and said ‘look, were parking hundreds of aircraft per day! And logistically, it is quite complex.’ This is a particularly difficult time, and we’ve created a particular application that allows them to park the aircraft virtually.”

With over 11,000 planes in operation, in addition to logistics issues, there is also a pressing health concern. In the case of the aviation industry, it is the health of the fleet during the global downturn. To address this, Airbus launched a new aviation open data platform in collaboration with Palantir Technologies. Because of Airbus’ massive industrial footprint, Palantir was able to leverage historical data and analytics necessary to build the app.

Thus, Skywise, a technology platform that would be beneficial to all major aviation players, was created. The tool is essential for customers that require immediate insight at an “aircraft, fleet, company, and global level.” This app enables carriers to improve their operational performance through predictive and preventative methods to determine the health of their fleets. Now, more than ever, this tool is invaluable to airlines that have had planes grounded for an extended period. The app collects various data from sensors and systems to assist in proactive maintenance detection. It also helps with the logistics of everyday travel operations, such as the launch of a new feature that enables carriers to locate parking for their fleets or individual planes.

Parking aviation carriers can be more complicated than what it feels like landing as a passenger. To a passenger, we are happy when we land, eager as we taxi to the gate, impatient to deplane, but not once do we think about what happens afterward. For instance, how does one park a plane? Numerous factors come into play when a decision is made to park a plane and have it sit out of service for an extended period, chief among them, maintenance of the craft.

Like cars, airplanes engines must be started when in storage, and this requires engineers and maintenance crews to exercise the batteries, turbines, check electronic systems, sanitize the plane, perform bodywork or interior cabin repairs, etc. Proximity to airplane hangers is also a vital consideration. Skywise keeps track of all of this. But, not many airlines were prepared for an economic event that would necessitate the grounding of a significant part of, if not entirely, the fleet of their planes.

The pandemic caused unprecedented disruption to the travel industry, and it seems that airlines did factor in this potentiality and, therefore, seemingly did not prepare for long-term storage needs. As any frequent traveler can tell you, airlines are highly motivated to board passengers and depart as quickly as possible, because parking, especially at European hubs, can run about $285 per hour. In the wake of massive disruption to the industry, airlines have had to become extremely creative about parking.

Arid environments are best suited for plane storage since high humidity can have adverse effects on engines and airframes. In Europe, airports are “temporarily decommissioning runways” to be used by airlines to park planes. In the United States, Roswell International Air Center, which is in New Mexico, is “in the process of adding 300 more acres of asphalt parking space to its existing 4,000-acre footprint -- enough space to accommodate up to 800 airliners.” (Source: CNN)

In Australia, the Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage (APAS) company, founded by Tom Vincent, former Deutsche Bank Vice President, and research analyst, provides storage for short, medium, and long-term needs. Vincent’s entrepreneurial foray, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, seems eerily prescient. Located in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, Vincent says, “The climatic conditions are ideal for aircraft asset value preservation, with extremely low humidity.”

According to Time, two-thirds of the world’s airlines are grounded. But with the coronavirus continuing to run amuck, many countries are having to delay or scale back opening. Even after countries fully open, there is no guarantee that airlines will be operating at full capacity utilizing their entire fleets. Until travel returns to pre-pandemic levels, planes will be in storage for the foreseeable future. Skywise can help airlines ensure that their fleets are ready to meet the demand as the world adjusts to living in a post-COVID-19 world, and passengers can be assured that the planes they are flying on have been optimally maintained and are flight-worthy.