ART OF HANGAR MANAGEMENT
HOLIDAY jetaways are on hold for now with planes grounded by the pandemic.
But where are the aircraft stored until they can take to the skies again? And what is happening to them?
We asked travel giant TUI what it has done with its fleet of 59 short-haul 737s, longhaul Boeing 787s and some older mixed-use 767s and 757s.
Almost half the jets, including the 787 Dreamliners, are at Manchester and Gatwick – 15 and 13 respectively.
The rest of the fleet is parked on the tarmac at Newcastle, Birmingham, Luton, Bristol, Doncaster Sheffield and Glasgow.
Although the aircraft are not flying, there is still plenty going on as they are put into “active storage”, so they will be ready to go straight back into operation as soon as TUI Airways gets the go-ahead for holiday travel to Europe, North Africa, the USA, Caribbean and Far East.
Technicians and engineers still have much work to do while the jets are out of service.
The only real difference between normal maintenance and how it operates under the current restrictions is that the work can be completed during the day – and not on a 24/7 schedule to cope with late landings and early departures. Engineering and maintenance “active storage” work varies depending on the aircraft, but basically comprises seven, 14 or 28-day cycles for monitoring temperature and humidity, system testing, deep cleaning and cosmetic repairs to make sure they can come back to passengers looking their best. The planes’ twin engines have to be powered up once a week and the aircraft are regularly towed (like being taken for a walk!) to keep tyres at their best. Maintenance Operations Control Manager Simon Hills said: “This is the first time in the history of TUI Airways that our entire fleet is on the ground across the UK, so we are working on 59 aircraft parked at eight airports.
“We want to make sure they are all ready to fly to the 88 destinations we operate to, as soon as our customers can once again enjoy a well-deserved holiday.”
See tui.co.uk/flight to find out more.
PASSENGERS: RANGE: LENGTH: WINGSPAN: HEIGHT:
PASSENGERS: 248
RANGE: 8,407 miles
LENGTH: 186ft
WINGSPAN: 97ft
HEIGHT: 56ft