Pittsburgh International housing more than 100 grounded planes in its airfield
More than 100 planes are parked at Pittsburgh International Airport as the coronavirus halts travel across the world and airlines need somewhere for their aircraft to wait out the pandemic.
A majority of the planes are owned by American Airlines and Republic Airways, according to BlueSky, the airport’s news service. Airport officials estimate about 140 planes could take up residence on unused taxiways, runways and other surfaces.
“First and foremost, we want to give the airlines a way to respond to this drop in travel demand,” Bryan Dietz, vice president of air service development, told BlueSky. “We want to give them a place that they can easily and efficiently consolidate their aircraft parking.”
American Airlines officials announced last week they would reduce flight capacity by 60% for April and then another 20% in May.
The same has happened at the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta. Delta, which is based in Atlanta, has cut its flights by 80% and parked half of its fleet, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
As of Friday, the newspaper reported, there were 42 planes parked on taxiways at the airport. Airport officials said it can accommodate about 150 planes just on its southern side.
In Pittsburgh, officials worked with airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration to determine the best place for the idle planes to park.
“Basically, what we look at is, depending on the size of the aircraft, you want to be able to maneuver around it and be able to move the aircraft when you need to,” Patrick Carreno, vice president of airport operations, told BlueSky. “You don’t want to put them too close to one another, so there’s a bit of a buffer and they are kind of staggered.”
He said other airlines have reached out to the airport about parking their planes there as well.
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