When the global lockdown started in March, more than half of the world airline fleet was parked in all kinds of remote locations. Somewhere around 17,000 airliners waiting for better times. And while the planes were parked, many flight simulators were also empty. Jacques Drappier analyses their symbiotic future.

With the gradual opening of national borders, airlines are slowly restarting operations and resuming routes. We have now reached the point that the operational fleet outnumbers the parked fleet, according to consultancy firm Cirium – around 39% parked versus 61% operational.

We will, however, never see all recently operational aircraft back in the sky. A shared view among leading experts is that 3500 to 5000 planes will never leave the desert. For some types, it is a retirement that was already announced but has now advanced a few years because of the reduced demand. For others, such as the A380, it is a shocking retirement after less than 10 years of activity.

For the airlines, it is a balancing act: the reduced demand for years to come, the commitment for new planes they have ordered, fuel prices, heavy maintenance checks due in the next months or years – all variables that can influence the decision to keep or discard a plane, or a whole fleet.

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