Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) will temporarily decommission its entire fleet of seventeen Airbus A340-600 aircraft for a year and a half. The first three have already flown over to Teruel, northeastern Spain.
A decision should be taken soon on whether they will be back in service in 2021. The reactivation of ten aircraft is being considered.
Impacted by the coronavirus crisis, airlines have stored large parts of their fleets. When using their home base is not possible, or not sufficient, carriers rely on other locations, such as Teruel (TEV) or Chateauroux (CHR) airports, that house storage and dismantling facilities.
“With around 240 days of sunshine a year and little rainfall, the region [of Teruel] is particularly suitable for parked aircraft,” said Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) in a statement.
Lacking space in Heathrow, British Airways also used the Spanish airport, which is the largest European storing facility, to store at least five of its Boeing 747 jumbo jets. As for its A380s, they were sent to Châteauroux for the next six months at least.