STRAPPED AIRLINES STORE MORE PLANES.Byline: Jim Skeen Do you mean:
MOJAVE - Reflecting the struggles of commercial airlines in a sluggish economy Sluggish Economy A state in the economy in which the growth is slow, flat or declining. The term can refer to the economy as a whole or a component of the economy, such as weak housing starts. and in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the number of jetliners coming into Mojave Airport for storage is on the rise. Opting to store the aircraft at relatively modest fees rather than go through the expense of maintaining them, airlines are bringing their planes to be stored in the dry climate of the High Desert. More than 150 jetliners are now parked at the airport and more are expected. ``We were getting five to 15 airplanes a day last week,'' said Tim Jaworski, the airport's finance director. ``The indications are that it's not going to slow up.'' Based on information provided by companies that seal up the jetliners for storage, the airport could get as many as 300 airplanes, Jaworski said. Some of the jetliners are coming in as a result of airlines making their operations more efficient, but many are being parked as the direct result of the decline in passenger loads in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and the Pentagon Pentagon Huge five-sided building (1941–43) in Arlington, Va., that is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. Designed by George Edwin Bergstrom, it was, on its completion, the world's largest office building, covering 34 acres (14 hectares) and offering , Jaworski said. The airlines using Mojave include American, U.S. Air, Continental and Delta. The airport rents parking space for the jets at rates of $150 a month for narrow-body aircraft Noun 1. narrow-body aircraft - a commercial airliner with a single aisle narrow-body, narrowbody aircraft airliner - a commercial airplane that carries passengers and $250 a month for wide-body aircraft. The number of jetliners parked at the airport is a barometer of the health of the airline industry. During the early 1990s, recession hit the airlines hard, sending such companies as Pan Am, Eastern and Midway Midway, island group (2 sq mi/5.2 sq km), central Pacific, c.1,150 mi (1,850 km) NW of Honolulu, comprising Sand and Eastern islands with the surrounding atoll. Discovered by Americans in 1859, Midway was annexed in 1867. A cable station was opened in 1903. into bankruptcy bankruptcy, in law, settlement of the liabilities of a person or organization wholly or partially unable to meet financial obligations. The purposes are to distribute, through a court-appointed receiver, the bankrupt's assets equitably among creditors and, in most . At one point, more than 180 jetliners were parked at the airport. As the economy and the airline industry recovered, the jets were returned to service, leaving about 20 aircraft parked at the airport during the late 1990s. The airline industry has laid off more than 100,000 employees and trimmed routes since the Sept. 11 attacks. A General Accounting Office report issued earlier this month estimates losses to the airline industry of between $6.5 billion and $10.5 billion. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Planes from various airlines are shown in storage at Mojave Airport. More than 150 jetliners are now parked there. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion