Will planes be pulled from Desert storage?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Formerly Box 350, Boston Mass, Oh two one three four. Now near Beverly Hills 90210
Programs: Loyal Order of Water Buffalos
Posts: 3,938
Will planes be pulled from Desert storage?
Most of us are familiar with the desert storage for mothballed airplanes (big one near Tuscon). Any chance airlines will retrieve equipment from there to replace the grounded 737 MAX planes?
#2
Join Date: May 2009
Location: SIN (with a bit of ZRH sprinkled in)
Posts: 9,455
My guess would be no, due to several reasons:
The "MAX" has been out just for a relatively short time, and while a few hundred airplanes seem to be a lot, there always exists some kind of reserve (recently taken out of service aircrafts that are still at a normal airport, wetlease) and even cancelling a few flights here and there would be cheaper than reactivating any desert bird.
Plus, most aircrafts brought there were shortly before next heavy maintenance, thus it would take quite some money and time to bring them back into service.
Unless the grounding would be for an extended period of time (ie, over 3 months - entirely possible) I can't see this happening.
The "MAX" has been out just for a relatively short time, and while a few hundred airplanes seem to be a lot, there always exists some kind of reserve (recently taken out of service aircrafts that are still at a normal airport, wetlease) and even cancelling a few flights here and there would be cheaper than reactivating any desert bird.
Plus, most aircrafts brought there were shortly before next heavy maintenance, thus it would take quite some money and time to bring them back into service.
Unless the grounding would be for an extended period of time (ie, over 3 months - entirely possible) I can't see this happening.
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Programs: DL PM, MR Titanium/LTP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 10,130
Agree -- depends on grounding period. For legacy airlines like AA, it likely just means extending the retirement date of planes like the MD88.
For newer airlines like Norweigian it'll prove to be a bigger challenge -- fleet is too young to have planes even eligible for retirement. More likely it means they have to cancel routes that the 737Max8 was capable of performing (like short TATL) or upgauge to the much bigger 787 on those short, thin TATL routes -- either option will be very costly for the airlines and you can be sure they'll be looking for compensation from Boeing (either in the form of $$$ which a cash-strapped company like Norweigian likely needs or favorable discounts on future airline purchases / conversions of 737 Max to other Boeing planes)
For newer airlines like Norweigian it'll prove to be a bigger challenge -- fleet is too young to have planes even eligible for retirement. More likely it means they have to cancel routes that the 737Max8 was capable of performing (like short TATL) or upgauge to the much bigger 787 on those short, thin TATL routes -- either option will be very costly for the airlines and you can be sure they'll be looking for compensation from Boeing (either in the form of $$$ which a cash-strapped company like Norweigian likely needs or favorable discounts on future airline purchases / conversions of 737 Max to other Boeing planes)
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
Programs: UA 1K, MM *G for life, BAEC Gold
Posts: 10,225
For most airlines (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), we're still in low season so they will generally have less full schedules and less full planes. They'll simply allow the slack to be taken up with existing resources.
#6
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 581
More likely this and the bigger airlines will be successful in getting costs recouped from Boeing. Airlines like Norwegian will struggle to get money from Boeing barring a class action lawsuit. I can see Boeing offering compensation to Chinese airlines, Emirates (flydubai), AA, WN, etc. But they will not bend over for smallish airlines at all, unless they are forced too.
#7
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Poland
Posts: 87
It all depends on how Boeing handles this.
If Boeing offers official compensation to any airline, all other MAX users have easy way paved to get their compensation as well.
If Boeing offers something under the table to big players and says it's not compensating anything to anyone, it might be harder.
I don't see Norwegian as a small airline (fleet of ~150). Take into account the fact that they seem to have some financial issues, they might not care about good relations with manufacturer and sue them quickly if not compensated.
Even smaller airlines like Enter Air in Poland (fleet of 22, including 2 MAX; and 4 MAX on order) told the shareholders that it will recoup MAX costs from Boeing.
If Boeing offers official compensation to any airline, all other MAX users have easy way paved to get their compensation as well.
If Boeing offers something under the table to big players and says it's not compensating anything to anyone, it might be harder.
I don't see Norwegian as a small airline (fleet of ~150). Take into account the fact that they seem to have some financial issues, they might not care about good relations with manufacturer and sue them quickly if not compensated.
Even smaller airlines like Enter Air in Poland (fleet of 22, including 2 MAX; and 4 MAX on order) told the shareholders that it will recoup MAX costs from Boeing.
#8
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 68
How can they be so sure?
The reason for the statement would be to avoid a panic-selling of their stock.
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,719
Anyway the Max is likely to be sidelined for only a couple of months -- not as long as it would take to de-pickle desert airplanes and get them online. How long it will take to coax the flying public back aboard the "now even safer" Max is anyone's guess.
Last edited by BearX220; Mar 29, 2019 at 3:47 pm
#10
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,413
There are a few aircraft available that had been leased to WOW, but I don't know how quickly they can be re-leased to another carrier. One or two seem to have been seized.
It'a almost surprising that WOW didn't try to consolidate routes and wet lease some aircraft to carriers that had been using the MAX, as a way to get some money fairly quickly. OTOH, if everyone was expecting WOW to collapse, leasing from WOW wouldn't be a very stable solution for another carrier.
It'a almost surprising that WOW didn't try to consolidate routes and wet lease some aircraft to carriers that had been using the MAX, as a way to get some money fairly quickly. OTOH, if everyone was expecting WOW to collapse, leasing from WOW wouldn't be a very stable solution for another carrier.