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Overview

The jets that face early retirement because of the Corona crisis

How long the corona groundings will last is unclear. It is already certain that the variety of aircraft types will decrease - an interim status.

The management of American Airlines may have been happy to be able to save operating costs in the future with younger aircraft. But when the airline flotted its last McDonnell Douglas MD-83s last September, it still gave the veteran Super Eighties an honorable farewell. Service periods of up to 30 years are not uncommon for a passenger airline, and many aircraft fans and employees even grow fond of the old jets.

The staff of Air Transat may also have had a close relationship with the Airbus A310. But there was no ceremony last week for the last flight of the twin-engine aircraft from the 1980s and 1990s, for good reason: Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, Air Transat decided to carry out its fleet rejuvenation in favor of the Airbus A321 LR faster than planned. Like almost every airline, Air Transat faces hard times, has to leave aircraft on the ground and cannot employ staff.

Industry prepares for downsizing
All over the world, the majority of all passenger aircraft are currently stored or parked. It is doubtful whether they will all return to service once the situation around the corona virus improves. «We have a smaller Lufthansa Group ahead of us,» Group CEO Carsten Spohr already announced.

In the picture gallery above, you can see which aircraft models have so far been taken out of service by which airlines due to the corona crisis.

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