Jetliners sidelined by pandemic 'sitting ducks' amid looming weather threat
By
John Roach, AccuWeather staff writer
Published May 14, 2020 8:31 PM EDT
With air traffic down during the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines have parked hundreds of jets. Many are idled on runways and tarmacs at airports in tornado alley.
The coronavirus pandemic has crushed U.S. airlines in ways so devastating, abrupt and potentially long term that a return to the recent normalcy of February could be years or more away.
There has been a 93 percent drop in passenger volume for U.S. airlines since February, after roughly 5 percent growth in January-February, according to Airlines for America. That has led airlines to idle 52 percent of the total of 6,100-plus U.S. passenger aircraft as of May 12. Just 5 percent were grounded on Feb. 29.
On Tuesday, the CEO of plane maker Boeing predicted on NBC’s Today show that a major U.S. airline would go out of business by this fall. “Something will happen when September comes around,” said Boeing CEO David Calhoun.
The rest of May and all of June – the heart of tornado season – should be a more immediate concern for the airlines. Many of those idled planes are parked in areas prone to tornadoes or severe storms at this time of year.
“Airplanes are sitting ducks in this crisis,” said AccuWeather lead long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok.
American Airlines passenger planes crowd a runway where they are parked due to flight reductions at Tulsa International Airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo
“I was surprised to see the planes parked in places where things could be bad because of the weather,” said AccuWeather’s Geoff Knauth, a pilot with more than 41 years of flying experience. “The question is, if there is a tornado bearing down, how do you move things quickly enough?”
Airports have closed some runways and parked planes in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Denver, as well as tornado-prone sites such as Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, among other locations.
American Airlines has massed the highest number of its planes in Tulsa because it has the largest commercial aviation maintenance facility in the world, according to the company, with more than 5,500 employees and 3.3 million square feet of hangar and shop space on 330 acres at Tulsa International Airport.
However, Tulsa also is one year removed from one of its most active tornado seasons on record. The National Weather Service issued 103 tornado warnings for the area from April 30 through May 2019, the most issued by any forecast office in the country during that span.
A total of 99 tornadoes struck in Oklahoma in 2019, the fourth-highest state total in the U.S. last year. And a tornado on May 20, 2019, hit close to the Tulsa International Airport, roughly four miles away, and passengers at the airport were moved into shelters for about 30 minutes.
“We are aware of the weather, but Tulsa is our largest maintenance base,” an American Airlines representative told AccuWeather.
This image made from video provided by KWTV-KOTV shows two funnel clouds formed in Crescent, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2019. An intense storm system swept through the Southern Plains, spawning a few tornadoes that caused some damage and a deluge of rain but no reports of injuries. (KWTV-KOTV via AP)
Airplane maintenance is crucial for the parked aircraft to remain air-worthy when needed again. “If planes sit for too long and are not properly maintained, they can face corrosion problems and other things that could become very expensive,” Knauth said.
So far in the U.S., there have been just nine preliminary reports of tornadoes this month. “The tornado trend will pick up late May in the south-central Plains and mid- to lower Mississippi Valley,” Pastelok said, referencing an area including Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, among other states.
Last May, a total of 506 tornadoes occurred – roughly 46 percent more than the average for May of 269 and just off the record of 542. AccuWeather is predicting 250 to 325 tornadoes in the U.S. for May 2020.
“The chances of an airport getting hit, or any specific spot, are low,” Pastelok said.
The U.S. airlines certainly hope the odds are finally in their favor.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo
News / Severe Weather
Jetliners sidelined by pandemic 'sitting ducks' amid looming weather threat
By John Roach, AccuWeather staff writer
Published May 14, 2020 8:31 PM EDT
With air traffic down during the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines have parked hundreds of jets. Many are idled on runways and tarmacs at airports in tornado alley.
The coronavirus pandemic has crushed U.S. airlines in ways so devastating, abrupt and potentially long term that a return to the recent normalcy of February could be years or more away.
There has been a 93 percent drop in passenger volume for U.S. airlines since February, after roughly 5 percent growth in January-February, according to Airlines for America. That has led airlines to idle 52 percent of the total of 6,100-plus U.S. passenger aircraft as of May 12. Just 5 percent were grounded on Feb. 29.
On Tuesday, the CEO of plane maker Boeing predicted on NBC’s Today show that a major U.S. airline would go out of business by this fall. “Something will happen when September comes around,” said Boeing CEO David Calhoun.
The rest of May and all of June – the heart of tornado season – should be a more immediate concern for the airlines. Many of those idled planes are parked in areas prone to tornadoes or severe storms at this time of year.
“Airplanes are sitting ducks in this crisis,” said AccuWeather lead long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok.
American Airlines passenger planes crowd a runway where they are parked due to flight reductions at Tulsa International Airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Nick Oxford/File Photo
“I was surprised to see the planes parked in places where things could be bad because of the weather,” said AccuWeather’s Geoff Knauth, a pilot with more than 41 years of flying experience. “The question is, if there is a tornado bearing down, how do you move things quickly enough?”
Airports have closed some runways and parked planes in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Denver, as well as tornado-prone sites such as Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, among other locations.
American Airlines has massed the highest number of its planes in Tulsa because it has the largest commercial aviation maintenance facility in the world, according to the company, with more than 5,500 employees and 3.3 million square feet of hangar and shop space on 330 acres at Tulsa International Airport.
However, Tulsa also is one year removed from one of its most active tornado seasons on record. The National Weather Service issued 103 tornado warnings for the area from April 30 through May 2019, the most issued by any forecast office in the country during that span.
A total of 99 tornadoes struck in Oklahoma in 2019, the fourth-highest state total in the U.S. last year. And a tornado on May 20, 2019, hit close to the Tulsa International Airport, roughly four miles away, and passengers at the airport were moved into shelters for about 30 minutes.
“We are aware of the weather, but Tulsa is our largest maintenance base,” an American Airlines representative told AccuWeather.
This image made from video provided by KWTV-KOTV shows two funnel clouds formed in Crescent, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2019. An intense storm system swept through the Southern Plains, spawning a few tornadoes that caused some damage and a deluge of rain but no reports of injuries. (KWTV-KOTV via AP)
Airplane maintenance is crucial for the parked aircraft to remain air-worthy when needed again. “If planes sit for too long and are not properly maintained, they can face corrosion problems and other things that could become very expensive,” Knauth said.
So far in the U.S., there have been just nine preliminary reports of tornadoes this month. “The tornado trend will pick up late May in the south-central Plains and mid- to lower Mississippi Valley,” Pastelok said, referencing an area including Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Nebraska, among other states.
Last May, a total of 506 tornadoes occurred – roughly 46 percent more than the average for May of 269 and just off the record of 542. AccuWeather is predicting 250 to 325 tornadoes in the U.S. for May 2020.
“The chances of an airport getting hit, or any specific spot, are low,” Pastelok said.
The U.S. airlines certainly hope the odds are finally in their favor.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo