August 10 2020 – Percentage of passenger jets in storage continues to fall18 Sep 2020 14:27
Airlines are likely to pass by the end of this week the milestone of collectively holding fewer than one third of their passenger jets in storage as the gradual recovery in global flight operations continues.
Behind this topline figure, narrrowbodies were clearly most in demand as the mainstay of domestic and intra-regional trunk routes, with only 29% of the global fleet remaining inactive. Meanwhile 37% of regional jets and 43% of widebodies are yet to be returned to duty.
As of 10th August Cirium classified a total of 8,750 widebodies, narrowbodies and regional jets as having in-storage status, while nearly 17,500 were in service. More than two thirds of the global fleet has been in storage since late March.
By mid-April almost 11,000 single-aisles had been placed into storage, but this figure has since declined to fewer than 5,000 (including nearly 400 still-grounded 737 Max aircraft).