Victorville becomes temporary home for hundreds of grounded aircraft

Victorville’s Southern California Logistics Airport in California is usually where airliners go for long term storage or scrapping.

The dry desert heat makes the location perfect for preserving metal airliners in the open air.

However, this remote airport is now becoming a temporary home for hundreds of extra aircraft which are being grounded because of the coronavirus outbreak.

In recent days, both Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines have been sending streams of aircraft to Victorville for storage.

Delta announced earlier this week that it would be parking over 600 jets – around 80% of its fleet. Around half of these will be sent to Victorville, as well as being parked on closed-down runways at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson airport.

As well as storing its Boeing 737-700 and -800 fleets, Victorville is also home to most of Southwest Airlines’ grounded 737 MAX fleet.