HOW AIRLINES PARK THOUSANDS OF PLANES

When the world came to a halt thanks to COVID-19, schools and shops were closed, people were told to work from home and most commercial flights were grounded.

While this meant that our offices and car parks were empty, it also meant that we simply went home, parked our cars, and continued to work.

Not such an easy feat when you’re an airline. Where do you park all your massive planes?

Never before have airlines had to ground so many planes so quickly.

Before COVID, there were up to 20,000 planes in the air at one time during the day. That’s a lot of planes to find parking space for, and that's not even all of them.

Empty runways and areas known for storing old planes that are no longer in use were used. Even international airports were used as the airport itself couldn’t be used anyway.

While it’s one thing to park thousands of planes, it’s another to find out which plane should be parked in the front because it’s due for maintenance and a service soon, and which ones can go to the back.

Airbus created an app for their clients to help them keep up with which plane is located where.

Some airlines had to send their older planes into early retirement, especially those that are usually used for long haul flights. Maintenance on these planes simply cost too much not to be in use.

While some airlines have been given the go ahead to take to the sky again, there are still thousands of planes parked across the world. If you’re going to fly in the next few months, keep an eye out for those plane parking lots.

Watch the CNBC video below to see what these plane parking lots look like from the sky.

Image credit: Lincoln Journal Star