This archive report was first published on 30 August 2019.
Since the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max in March 2019, following two deadly crashes that killed 346 people, airlines have been moving the aircraft around the world to prepare for its return to service.
According to Business Insider, airlines have been flying empty planes between locations, seeking to rationalize their fleets in preparation for the 737 Max's return to service. This process, known as 'ferrying,' has allowed airlines to move their planes to their home bases, where they can be kept together and maintained.
However, the ferrying process has not been without its challenges. In June 2019, a Norwegian Boeing 737 Max plane was forced to land in France after Germany denied it entry to its airspace. The plane was trying to move from Spain back to the airline's base in Sweden, in what a spokesman for Norwegian told Business Insider was an effort to keep all of its planes closer together for easy maintenance and an easier upgrade to the planes when Boeing's fix is approved.
Business Insider contacted more than a dozen airlines with 737 Max planes in their fleets to find out about their whereabouts and movements since the grounding. Here is what the eight airlines that provided responses said:
- Trans-European airline TUI said that one of its Max planes is in the Canary Islands, which are off the coast of north-west Africa. It will remain there until the 'grounding is lifted,' the spokesman added.
- FlyDubai, a budget airline based in the UAE, said one of its in-service planes is being stored at a maintenance facility in the US, where it was when the grounding came into effect.
- Norwegian, which has one of Europe's largest fleets of 737 Max, said that its aircraft are being stored across three capital cities in Scandinavia: Oslo in Norway, Stockholm in Sweden, and Helsinki in Finland.
- American Airlines said the airline's 24 Max planes are being stored across the US. 14 are at its maintenance base in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and 10 are in the airline's storage facility in Roswell, New Mexico.
- Canadian airline WestJet said that its 13 Max planes are being kept in airports in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver, which are three of the airline's hubs.
- Aerolíneas Argentinas said that its five max planes are being kept in Argentina, with two in Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, and the other three in Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, a domestic airport.
- Southwest has all of its 34 Max planes in one location, Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California, having ferried the planes there from across the US when the grounding was ordered.
- United Airlines said this week that it was in the process of ferrying its 737 Max fleet to a single location, an airport in Phoenix, Arizona.
Airlines are largely reluctant to move their planes into long-term storage, which can mean draining vital fluids or partial disassembly of the aircraft for preservation purposes. Such storage could slow up the process of returning the planes to service after the 737 Max is un-grounded.
Instead of placing the aircraft into long-term storage, airlines are regularly moving and maintaining the planes, getting them ready to be used as soon as the grounding is lifted — even as the timeline for its return is continually pushed back.
