CAA: GA News, "Mojave Airport: Desert sky park for idle airliners"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Monday, September 2, 2002

Mojave Airport: Desert sky park for idle airliners
By ALLISON GATLIN
The Antelope Valley (CA) Press


MOJAVE - The Mojave Airport is offering preferred parking.

No, it is not valet service for first-class passengers. Rather, it has
desert accommodations for out of work airliners.

While the airport has long been the site for storing aircraft no longer
in active use by airlines, this unusual parking lot saw its numbers
swell in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

>From about 60 aircraft in storage at this time last year, the aircraft
lined up in ranks around the airport now number more than 300, a steady
increase in business for AVTEL Services Inc., the company that provides
storage and maintenance service for airliners.

As the airline industry slump continues, with more companies declaring
bankruptcy or instituting large-scale cutbacks, the airport is expecting
as many as 200 more aircraft to arrive in the coming months.

"They come and they go every day," said Vern Alexander, AVTEL director
of marketing. "It's a very fluid situation."

Mojave is popular for storing the aircraft because of its favorable
weather conditions. There is no dew or corrosive salt air that could
damage the craft over time.

The aircraft are in a storage maintenance program, which means they are
capable of flying off again with a few days of preparation.

The aircrafts' windows and wheels are covered, water is drained from
lines and the engines and auxiliary power units are preserved. While in
storage, the aircraft are checked periodically for leaks or other
problems.

"Basically, it's a cocooning process," Alexander said.

With the end of the summer travel season, the company is expecting
another influx of aircraft, although there is no firm figure of how many
just yet.

The East Kern Airport District receives about $150 for each aircraft
parked there, Witt said.

In return, the airport has provided "considerable" improvements to
security, and has cleared and stabilized the desert lands used to park
the giant aircraft.

About 500 acres - approximately one-sixth of the airport property - has
been used to store the airliners, airport general manager Stuart Witt
said.

"I think we can handle 200 without any trouble at all," he said.

In rosier economic times, most of the aircraft parked in Mojave were
retired by airlines as they updated their fleets.

Today, the aircraft cover a range of ages, including one with only seven
hours of use flown directly to Mojave from the Boeing plant in Seattle,
Alexander said.

The aircraft are also from a variety of manufacturers, including Boeing,
Airbus and even the defunct McDonnell Douglas.

AVTEL has been operating at the airport since 1989, but this is the
greatest number of aircraft the company has stored.

To take care of the increase, the company is in a hiring mode, with some
small additions planned to the work force of airframe and propulsion
mechanics, Alexander said.

Attached Photo:

RESERVED PARKING - More airliners than ever before are being stored at
the Mojave Airport, a steady increase in business for AVTEL Services
Inc., the company that provides storage and maintenance service for
airliners.

mojave.gif