How do you bring a passenger plane in storage back to life?

There is a place in northeastern Spain called Teruel which has an aircraft storage facility. During the pandemic, many planes were sent here, as it has a dry climate which is suitable for this kind of work.

Putting aircraft into hibernation is quite a detailed process and doing the reverse is just as complicated. Since safety is paramount, it is not as simple as starting up and flying when you want your plane back.

Bringing A Plane Back From Storage

There is a half hour documentary from ARTE.tv called Europe’s Aircraft Graveyard that has appeared on YouTube. The event being filmed is the return of a Lufthansa Airbus A340-600 from storage.

What is interesting is seeing so many planes from so many airlines on the ground here. Eagle eyed viewers will note several British Airways Boeing 747-400s as well as Airbus A380s from a couple of different carriers.

https://youtu.be/UOBy8Q1WI8A

Filming seems to have taken place once most of the work had been completed, which was slightly disappointing for me. I thought there would be more detail on that, however you do get to see some things that are done.

Of course, it all ends with the pilots taking the plane back to Germany, to re-enter service out of Munich on long haul routes. All in all it’s an interesting look into a place not many people get to see.

Overall Thoughts

Aircraft storage and recycling is a big business, with facilities popping up as far away as Australia. I like how they note they now recycle 94% of the machine which is always good to know.

What did you think of the documentary? Have you ever seen one of these boneyards before? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Lufthansa on Twitter.