Boeing has reportedly run out of space to store the huge supply of its grounded 737 Max Jets. The company has packed them into the staff parking lot in Washington. Aerial images of Boeing field five miles south of downtown Seattle show that the commercial aircraft was parked alongside vehicles and occupied about three dozen parking spots.
For those of you who are unaware of this; FAA grounded Boeing’s best-selling jet this year in March following two crashes that claimed lives of 346 persons. The planes have therefore not been delivered since Boeing is working on a software fix and FAA approval. As it happens, Boeing is running out of its capacity to store these jets at King County International Airport where Boeing carries out flight testing of its new aircraft.
Paul Bergman, Boeing’s spokesperson, said, ‘We are using resources across the Boeing enterprise during the pause in 737 Max deliveries, including our facilities in Puget Sound, Boeing San Antonio, and at Moses Lake. This is part of our inventory-management plan.’ As of right now, Boeing has about 500 grounded 737 Max airplanes stored at different locations.
As per Boeing, it has already sustained $1 billion in damages because of the planes being grounded and is paying $2000 per month for each plane in terms of parking costs. Even after the ban is lifted by the FAA, airlines will be spending about 100 and 150 hours to make sure that each aircraft is ready to take to the skies again after being put in the storage.
Time will also be required for the sake of training pilots on the new software. According to George Ferguson, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, ‘They can’t keep building and parking planes indefinitely. We don’t think it will get to that, but it’s going to take a lot of cash to park those in the desert.’
Even after the FAA lifts its ban on 737 MAX flights, airlines will have to spend about 100 and 150 hours getting each aircraft ready to fly again after being put in storage, plus time for training pilots on the new software, officials from the three U.S. airlines that operate the jet said.
