Grounded Airplanes
Grounded Airplanes

COVID-19: Grounded Airplanes Photography

Sam Chui·
American AirlinesAviation NewsCathay PacificDelta Air LinesEmiratesFeatured StoriesLATAMNovel CoronavirusPhotographySWISS International Air Lines

With the sky getting emptier by the day, we are currently seeing a lot of airplanes on the ground and parked all over the world.

Emirates

Emirates have suspended passenger flight operations by UAE Government decree. Their fleet of A380s and B777s are parked in both Dubai Int'l (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) airports.

a group of airplanes on a runway
Emirates fleet parked in Dubai World Central (DWC)
a row of airplanes on a runway
Emirates fleet parked in Dubai World Central (DWC)
a row of airplanes on a runway
Emirates fleet parked in Dubai World Central (DWC)

American Airlines

These photos from Reuters show that American Airlines have parked their planes in Tulsa, Oklahoma including the B737 MAX, the B777 and the B787.

a group of airplanes on a runway
American Airlines planes parked in Tulsa, OK (Photo by Reuters)
a group of airplanes on a runway
American Airlines planes parked in Tulsa, OK (Photo by Reuters)
a group of airplanes on a runway
American Airlines planes parked in Tulsa, OK (Photo by Reuters)
a row of airplanes on a runway
American Airlines planes parked in Tulsa, OK (Photo by Reuters)
a group of airplanes on a runway
American Airlines planes parked in Tulsa, OK (Photo by Reuters)

Delta Air Lines

Delta have used both Victorville, CA and Marana, Pinal Air Park in Arizona to temporarily park their planes. These photos were taken by the Delta Pilot who flew in.

a row of airplanes on a runway
Delta Air Lines plane storage in Victorville, CA
a row of airplanes on a runway
Delta Air Lines plane storage in Victorville, CA
a group of airplanes parked on a dirt field
Delta Air Lines plane storage in Marana, Pinal Air Park, AZ
a row of airplanes parked on a runway
Delta Air Lines plane storage in Marana, Pinal Air Park, AZ

United

Photographer James Dingell shared these photos of United planes grounded at Washington Dulles (IAD).

a group of airplanes on a runway
United fleet grounded in Washington Dulles. James Dingell Photography

Hawaiian Airlines

One runway in Honolulu is used to park airplanes. HNLramper sent in these phtoos.

a row of airplanes on a runway
Hawaiian Airlines parked in Honolulu. Photo by HNLramper
a row of airplanes on a runway
Hawaiian Airlines parked in Honolulu. Photo by HNLramper
a row of airplanes on a runway
Hawaiian Airlines parked in Honolulu. Photo by HNLramper

European Airlines

a group of airplanes parked on a runway
Swiss single aisle airbus grounded in Dübendorf. Photo by Tom Luthi
a group of airplanes parked on a runway
Swiss single aisle airbus grounded in Dübendorf. Photo by Tom Luthi
a group of airplanes on a runway
Lufthansa fleet parked in Frankfurt
a row of airplanes parked on a runway
Lufthansa fleet parked in Frankfurt
a group of airplanes on a runway
Austrian Airlines in Vienna.
a group of airplanes parked in a parking lot
Austrian Airlines in Vienna
a group of airplanes on a runway
TAP Portugal fleet are parked in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo from Martim Borges
a group of airplanes on a runway
Some easyJet fleet are parked in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo from Martim Borges

Hong Kong

These pictures show that a large portion of Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express planes are parked in Hong Kong Int'l Airport.

a group of airplanes on a runway
Hong Kong Airport with planes grounded. Photo: from web
an aerial view of airplanes on a runway
Hong Kong Airport with planes grounded. Photo: from web
an airport with airplanes parked on the ground
Hong Kong Airport with planes grounded. Photo: from web
an aerial view of airplanes at an airport
Hong Kong Airport with planes grounded. Photo: from web

Singapore

Almost the entire fleet of Singapore Airlines, but 9 airplanes, are grounded. The majority of the Silk Air and the Scoot fleet are also grounded in Singapore.

a group of airplanes parked on a runway
Singapore Changi Airport with planes grounded. Photo: from web
a group of airplanes on a runway
Singapore Changi Airport with planes grounded. Photo: from web

LATAM

LATAM grounded their fleets in Santiago, Sao Paulo GRU, Brasilia (which closed a runway for Storage), Cuzco and many more across their network.

However, LATAM's fleet is not 100% grounded, they plan on operating around 10% of their intercontinental flights and 20% of their domestic networks in Brazil and Chile. The domestic operations in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are as of now closed.

a group of airplanes on a runway
LATAM fleet parked in Santiago de Chile, Photo by @mavalenzu
a group of airplanes on a runway
LATAM fleet parked in Santiago de Chile, Photo by @mavalenzu
a group of airplanes on a runway
LATAM fleet parked in Santiago de Chile, Photo by @mavalenzu
Sam Chui

Sam Chui is one of the world's most established aviation and travel blogger, content creator and published author. He enjoys anything related to aviation and travel. His fascination with airplanes stemmed from visiting Kai Tak airport as a teenager. He has spent some of the happiest times of his life in the air.

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45 Responses

  3. These planes are grounded.
    Singapore Airlines grounds 138 out of 147 planes.
    Scoot grounds 47 out of its 49 planes.
    SilkAir grounds majority of its planes.

    Reply

    1. On channelnewsasia there is a documentary about grounded aircraft during the covid 19 pandemic

  4. Hi Sam,
    I always feel awesome to see your videos and photos. I fix a special time to sit and watch your amazing videos… Great job keep up the good work God bless you😊👍
    I feel sad for aviation industry to stop operations due to COVID 19., but for first time I see all Aircrafts parked in-line looks amazing and satisfying 😉

    Reply

  5. I too prefer to see contrails than parked airplanes. But the photos are impressive and in a sad way, beautiful. Great job. Stay safe everyone. Follow the rules so we are all safe and out and about sooner than later.

    Reply

  6. Sam, well done on the photos and quite eerie to see all the grounded planes..

    And to the person re: the abortion comment, women still have the right to make a choice to terminate or have a baby. IMHO we need to have much, much better education for our youth (as well as access and free birth control methods and) adults on family planning methods, so hopefully abortions will be minimal and used only in dire situations. One last point to the person about abortion, we taxpayers often will have to pay for the care of the children born when the mother could not have an abortion.

    My best wishes to everyone and especially our health care and other workers who are exposed daily to possible COVI19 infection.

    Reply

  7. great pictures ,
    sam. After a combined 39 tears of flying USAF and American, it is so sad to see all those parked planes. I pray that this virus will come to a quick end. God bless all the world’s medical workers. Bill Horsey

    Reply

  8. I rather see them sitting and for as long as it takes than full of travelers, some with the coronavirus!

    Reply

  10. I was a flight instructor for 23 years. I have been into a dozen or more airports like these. They look barren of purpose now and unnaturally still. The most energetic industry in the world is ‘switched off.’ Watch though. One character trait that every pilot must show is leadership, not necessarily in a boisterous or even ambitious way, but focused and affirmative. We have leaders in every field working on this. No virus is going to stop us from getting ‘wheels up’ again and moving our people and purpose again.

    Reply

  11. This is one example of what happens when you try to become a world economy. You break one spoke in the wheel, and this is only one possible result. And yes, it can get worse, much worse.

    Reply

  14. I have visited many of those parking venues prior to retiring from the B-744, and it is sad to see this beautiful global fleet parked. Secondary consideration the global energy industry and all the people employed therein. Most alarming when you view the global fleet of airliners that are parked and consider then volume of jet fuel they are not using. Considering which camp you are in this could be considered a joyous occasion or for the huge economic impact the oil & gas industry has globally an economic disaster. I prefer to see contrails and prosperity!

    Reply

  15. It’s a global economy in many aspects of our lives anymore, and it’s an irreversible fact, whether we like it or not.

    Reply

  16. I am saddened by this, because I know there is NO virus – it is all fearmongering, which causes biological conflicts. These are in healing however, but because of ignorance on the part of the medical establishment and the fear mongering of the media, everybody suffers big time.
    This crisis is mental, not viral and is NOT contagious!

    Reply

    1. Either you penned this before midday as an April Fool’s joke, or you are one very delusional human being.

    2. Your talking S__H__I___T Roland It is very VERY contagious Mate SO get a bloody grip OK

    4. Wow… You leave me speechless. Most people this ignorant are at least smart enough to keep their mouths shut. You are one stunningly ill-informed individual.

      I do not feel sorry for you, I feel sorry for anyone around you.

  17. as I retired B-777 Ca[pt it is very disheartening and said!! My heart and prayers go out to all of those Dedicated professional Airline crews that are grounded, stay safe and god speed when you are eventually back in the Air!! Hate to bring it up but am very glad I am Now retired and NOT flying worldwide any more

    Reply

  18. The situation is not only damaging for the aircraft, it is detrimental to pilot skills. Airlines need to keep their simulator training facilities going at full blast. JC, FAA Retired Flight Standards, US Army Aviation Retired.

    Reply

  20. This is a terrible Virus, but its also a wake up call for everyone.
    We allowed Greed to put our Supply Chain in this condition, at the time it was the right decision , Hindsight says we should KEEP all critical Manufacturing at home.
    These are not accurate numbers, but it gives you a sense of where we as a society have gotten too.
    There were 150 Deaths on this day because of the Coronavirus, and 300 Babies killed by Abortions’. They were more preventable than the Virus.
    I know it will piss off several Democrat’s, But numbers don’t lie

    Reply

    1. Not Greed, but Globalism. When the government leadership creates incentives to push manufacturing offshore, the choice is to go offshore or lose to lower priced competition who does. I agree with Bill that we need to bring manufacturing home. This November let’s vote out the globalists and fix this mess!

  21. Great photos.. I hesitate to even think of the major problems along with time for the maintenance to get these aircraft back in the air once this is over…

    Reply

  22. For Delta, they also have aircraft in storage at MWH, BHM, ATL, BYH and possibly a few other places as well as VCV.

    Reply

  23. The pictures are beautiful and poetic! The situation is so sad. Stay safe and hopefully, soon we can say, ” Fly Safe”

    Reply

  25. Thank you for the pics, Sam. I have greatly enjoyed your work; you are the best. My wife and I may have watched all of your videos and plan to travel one day. Let’s just hope people stay at home and let’s beat this virus, save lives and get back to work. I am a college professor, so I am fortunate to be able to administer my classes online. However, I feel for all of the people in the tourism industry and other industries that are affected. Let’s pray this crisis gets over quickly. God Bless you, Sam. Your work is very important. People are depending upon for honest and factual info. Sincerely, Geaux Tigers

    Reply

  28. Very sad to see those pictures. Being from Texas, I’m well aware that Oklahoma is prime tornado territory. I hope that American planes parked in Tulsa escape damage as the season is coming up on us.

    Reply

  30. Great photo Sam,

    So Sad to see this , but its my first ever seen a runway being used not for take off and landing
    hope this will end soon

    Reply

  31. Hello Sir,
    I do travel for work all the time, now it’s total stop. You do a great job and great videos, hope this is soon over and we get back to business soon.
    Stay heathy, kind regards from Finland,
    Klaus

    Reply

  33. Sam, great photos!

    This is a terrible situation and the aviation industry is in deep trouble of course. But somehow I find the pictures of all these parked planes to be very artistically pleasing!

    Cheers!

    Reply

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