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A Boeing 787 Dreamliner sits in storage

[ EXCLUSIVE ]

June 10, 2021, 6:30 am by Ryan Ewing

Inside Victorville Airport, 400 Pandemic-Stricken Airliners Face an Uncertain Future

Head through the Mojave Desert and up Interstate 15 just north of Los Angeles, and you’ll find a relatively small, unsuspecting airport with no commercial air service. Airfields such as this one aren’t uncommon in California, but this particular one stands out.

ComAv Technical Services, located at Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, is one of the largest aircraft storage facilities on the globe with total capacity for over 500 commercial aircraft. The largest leaseholder on the property, the company just about reached its capacity in 2020 and has been riding the waves of the Covid-19 pandemic ever since.

“Even today we are receiving widebody aircraft because a lot of the international flights still have not picked up,” said Bill Tollison, ComAv’s General Manager.

Aircraft in storage at Victorville Airport (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

Owned by the U.S. Air Force until 1992, the airport shifted to civilian use. ComAv was the first maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) supplier on the property. The company is encroaching on its 23rd year at the airport, meaning it has seen industry downturns before, including the aftermath of 9/11.

“ComAv has been a big part of the airport for all of those years, actually, ComAv is the company on the airport that does all of the storage on the airport,” added Tollison. “There are no other companies that do storage on the airport. It is only ComAv. We currently have 450 airplanes on-site and we do a lot more than just storage.”

Riding the Wave

MROs like ComAv have been at the forefront of Covid-19’s industry effects. During the onset of the outbreak, the company received so many airplanes that they were forced to close a runway in collaboration with the local airport authority. This added plenty of additional space for aircraft parking

“So initially — when COVID first hit back in early 2020 — the airlines were parking essentially their entire fleets, their narrowbody aircraft and their widebody aircraft, especially the larger carriers that do not just [fly] domestic but overseas or international,” says Tollison.

A pattern has emerged as demand takes off in an industry desperate for continued recovery. According to the company, narrowbody jets have largely been placed back into service first. Widebody aircraft — primarily used on long-haul international flights — have remained on the property, awaiting the ease border restrictions and the ensuing return of demand.

“Quite honestly, we’re still reactivating narrowbody aircraft. And even today we are receiving widebody aircraft because a lot of the international flights still have not picked up,” he continued.

ComAv saw 470 parked aircraft on its property during the peak. The company says they still have over 400 parked today. According to Cirium data, 2,047 aircraft are in storage in the U.S., meaning they haven’t moved in over 30 days.

“However, most aircraft that arrive at ComAv are here for transitional maintenance and will be re-deployed,” noted Lisa Christine, ComAv’s Director of Corporate Initiatives. In Victorville, as one airplane leaves, another arrives to face an uncertain fate.

Dynamic Staffing to Meet Demand

Amid airline layoffs and furloughs, many aircraft mechanics were at a loss. Despite this, ComAv was one of the few aerospace companies hiring during the pandemic. The company’s staffing doubled when Covid-19 hit back in 2020.

“During the entire pandemic, we were actually having to hire pretty much every month to meet the demand of the aircraft coming in and inducting them into storage and then maintaining the storage during that timeframe,” Christine said in an interview with AirlineGeeks.

Of course, maintaining an airplane during its storage program is a necessity. Tollison’s team is tasked by airlines to do a variety of activities that keep the airplanes in a healthy condition during their desert stay. These activities include running engines, turning the landing gear, inspecting for wildlife, and a variety of other tasks.

With several of their A380s sitting in Victorville, Qantas found a nifty way to remove rattlesnakes and scorpions from wheel wells and landing gear components — a so-called “wheel wacker.”

A Qantas Airbus A380 in long-term storage (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

With the volume of airplanes arriving on the property, maintaining staffing levels became a key priority for ComAv. But what happens when these airplanes begin to re-enter service?

ComAv is experiencing that now. As the industry begins to recover, airlines are hiring back their mechanics, meaning that staffing levels will fluctuate.

“It’s been happening for about the last three months. Some of the airlines have called people back and we have had to hire direct. We do a lot with veterans. We do a lot here locally,” says Tollison.

The company has partnered with local colleges and A&P schools to hire direct.

“So we hire a lot of the students, and they work for us while they’re students. For instance, if they are in school on day shift, they’ll work for us on evening shifts. And if they’re in school on evening shifts, they’ll work for us on day shift,” concluded Christine.

Accommodating the Superjumbo

ComAv is the only U.S.-based firm that accommodates the world’s largest passenger aircraft: the Airbus A380. The company maintains 10 of the double-decker aircraft on its property. Tollison says they are in talks with other airlines to store additional A380s.

The A380 faces an uncertain future being virtually entirely grounded during the pandemic. Even prior to Covid-19, airlines were opting towards twin-engine aircraft that move to be more efficient. The pandemic was simply the nail in the coffin for the worldwide A380 fleet.

Qantas A380s parked in storage at ComAv’s facility (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

Qantas stores its A380s on ComAv’s Victorville property, which isn’t surprising considering the airline maintains a sizable maintenance base in nearby Los Angeles.

“It’s big, but it’s not the heaviest because its gear is so spread out. So I mean, it is a heavy, big aircraft and the wingspan is quite large, but it’s not the heaviest aircraft. But our soil-cement is rated for our widebody types 100%,” Tollison said.

Tollison also noted that the A380 may join other older aircraft in that they may not fly again. “Some of the older widebody aircraft — some of the 747s, 777-200s, some of the A380s, things like that — I think you won’t see a lot of those go back up because [the airlines] are buying newer aircraft,” he said.

Changing Tides

With widespread vaccine rollouts, the airline industry is beginning to recover at a sooner-than-expected pace. On Monday, the Transportation Security Administration reported 1,828,396 people passing through its checkpoints, which is up 23% from 2020’s number.

Even during a cyclical recovery, storage facilities such as ComAv are an integral part of this process, keeping airplanes ready to fly even as their futures may be uncertain.

Ryan Ewing Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com back in February 2013 and has amassed considerable experience in the aviation sector. His work has been featured in several publications and news outlets, including CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. During his time in the industry, he’s worked in roles pertaining to airport operations and customer service while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Air Transportation Management from Arizona State University. Ryan has experience in several facets of the industry from behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing airline industry executives.

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Markie Martin
Posted: MAY 27, 2021 / 08:33 PM CDT | Updated: MAY 27, 2021 / 08:33 PM CDT

VICTORVILLE, Calif. (NewsNation Now) — There’s demand for travel with vacation plans made possible again thanks to relaxed COVID-19 restrictions. However, after more than a year of caution amid the coronavirus pandemic, bringing planes and personnel back online isn’t that easy.

Southern California has been home for hundreds of wings in waiting. Just north of San Bernardino, on the outskirts of the Mojave Desert, is Victorville. It’s a beacon for aircraft enthusiasts.

“It’s like seeing a celebrity for the first time when you’re a true aviation fan, said Lisa Christine, ComAv’s director of corporate initiatives.

ComAv Technical Services is America’s leader in airplane storage and redeployment. General Manager William Tollison took NewsNation, the first news crew they’ve ever allowed inside, for a drive to document the 500 acres of sidelined planes at their facility.

“We get retirements constantly, anyway, but half of them are down due to the pandemic,” Tollison said.

When the pandemic hit, about 5,000 commercial planes went offline and hundreds of them have been stored at ComAv.

“We were up over 500 aircraft. This was actually very similar to 9/11 for us; when you get the call, ‘hey, we’ve got a lot of aircraft, we need to make sure they go somewhere,’” Christine said.

With post-pandemic travel making its comeback, many of the perfectly good planes are headed back up, but their return to the skies won’t be immediate.

ComAv’s runways are now full of the world’s most traveled carriers and notorious airplanes, including the tainted Boeing 737 MAX that was housed there during its grounding.

“It could take [from] one week up to 30 days,” Tollison said.

Rigorous maintenance checks must be completed on the planes and airline personnel must complete post-pandemic training before they fly again.

Bruce “Buck” Rodger, a captain for one of the world’s top airlines, wasn’t furloughed in 2020, but the pilot predicts he’ll have to switch planes since international travel remains dormant.

“I’ll have to go to school and get retrained, and there’s a pipeline and a backup there, and it is not just at my airline, it’s at all the airlines,” Rodger said.

After the bumpy ride that was 2020, Christine says, “aviation is coming back to life.”

“We want to see these aircraft flying, 100%,” Tollison added.

Meanwhile, travelers should pack a little patience; the lengthy delays and unexpected stops that some passengers are experiencing right now are due to the coronavirus. There aren’t the aircraft reserves there once were pre-pandemic.

ComAv has doubled in size this year, opening its doors to many of those who lost their jobs in the last year.

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BY CHRIS KARR April 28, 2020 Updated: May 3, 2020

As airports around the globe see a downward spiral in business due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a single airport in the southeast corner of California’s Mojave Desert is busier than ever.

The Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) in Victorville specializes in aircraft storage—and its standing army of airplanes in limbo is growing by the day.

Due to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus and which causes the disease COVID-19, it seems likely they’re not going anywhere soon.

“We certainly are busy—and getting even busier,” Lisa Skeels, a director at airline maintenance company ComAv, told The Epoch Times. “So we are stable, but under horrible circumstances.”

Since the dramatic decrease in airline business due to the COVID-19 shutdown, SCLA has parked an additional 178 planes at their facility, for many of the country’s largest airlines. The recent surge in out-of-use planes has necessitated shutting down one of its two runways.

Keeping the Planes Fit to Fly

The aircraft require a small army of people to see to their needs. That’s where ComAv—a company based at SCLA that specializes in maintenance, repair, and overhaul services—comes in.

“The process is quite extensive to put an aircraft into a storage program,” Skeels said. “We are experts in this business already, [but] a large influx of inbound aircraft in such a short time can be challenging.”

Since the downturn in air travel, Skeels said that ComAv has hired 95 new employees to meet the increased demand. She indicated even more jobs will become available “as we continue to receive more aircraft.”

The only hallmark comparable to the current growth in business operations was Sept. 11, 2001, Skeels explained.

When asked about the challenges of servicing 178 aircraft, Skeels said, “That would be 178, plus the 300 already in storage programs we have on site.”

Aircraft maintenance “requires a lot of planning, strategy, and labor.”

“The day in the life in aviation maintenance … is busy start to finish,” she said, and long hours are “certainly always required to complete the specific tasks needed for the aircraft.”

Skeels said a comprehensive list of the required duties would be very long, but gave a brief overview: engines and auxiliary power units must be examined and preserved; desiccants are utilized to capture humidity; flight controls and gears must be lubricated; inventory must be taken of emergency equipment; and coverings are used to keep debris from harming the aircraft’s functionality.

These measures, among many others, are necessary to ensure that the planes remain flight-ready for when the airline business picks up again.

According to global travel data provider Official Airline Guide (OAG), scheduled flights in the United States have dropped nearly 61 percent compared to the same week in April 2019.

Southwest and Delta Airlines are among those with planes at SCLA.

Delta spokesman Drake Castañeda told The Epoch Times that Delta has stored more than 50 percent of its 1,300 aircraft across the United States. Southwest Airlines spokesman Brian Parrish said his airline has “parked more than 100 aircraft at various locations across the country.”

A Boost for Local Desert Economy

According to Sue Jones, public information officer for the city of Victorville, the sudden increase in business for ComAv offers a small, but considerable, silver lining for the local high desert economy.

“People have been losing their jobs,” she told The Epoch Times. “But contrary to that, here—with this ability for ComAv to serve the airline companies—they’ve actually had a surge in their business, [by] hiring people who were laid off at other tenant companies at SCLA.”

Unlike passenger airports, SCLA is an industrial airport that performs aircraft maintenance and completion services, flight testing, aircraft research and development, and cargo transportation.

SCLA is also renowned for its 15,059-foot long runway—the second-longest public-use runway in the United States.

One of the primary benefits of airplane storage at SCLA is the ideal desert climate, Jones noted.

“We have 360 days a year of ‘severe clear’ weather,” Jones said. “So basically, the sun’s shining … we [don’t] experience a lot of damaging environmental factors like rain that would hurt the planes.”

Skeels said that ComAv can sustain the current situation for the long term if necessary, but she hopes the airlines will be able to get back to business soon.

“We are happy to support them during this time, but we do not want to see them go through this,” she said. “The ideal outcome … is to get our airline clients back into operation, and their passengers back into the air.

“We just want the country and business operations to heal, and have everyone return back to work as healthy and safely as possible.”

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VICTORVILLE — As demand for air travel has plummeted due to coronavirus-related restrictions, requests to store commercial aircraft have spiked, most noticeably at Southern California Logistics Airport.

At ComAv, which specializes in both short and long-term storage, company spokesperson Lisa Christine said Tuesday that more than 100 airplanes had already flown in since the weekend.

Typically, the company hosts about 280 aircraft at any one time, with a capacity to hold more than 500.

The number of incoming planes is anticipated to grow to 200 or more, Skeels said, as the pandemic is expected to swell.

“It’s all evolving very fast,” she said, adding that the company’s capacity for storage could expand with the closing of runways and other proposed alternatives.

Travel warnings and bans due to COVID-19 have been accompanied by airlines announcing the cancellation of flights and partial grounding of fleets.

On Tuesday, Delta Air Lines said employees were “carefully carrying out plans to safely and securely park more than 600 aircraft,” according to a statement.

Southwest Airlines announced the same day it planned to cancel 1,500 of about 4,000 daily flights starting Friday until April 14. Earlier, the company said it had reduced capacity by at least 20% in response to the outbreak.

Revenues in the air transport industry worldwide are projected to drop $252 billion from those made in 2019, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Christine said she couldn’t disclose the airlines that are storing their planes at SCLA. She said the situation was similar to what occurred after Sept. 11, 2001, when the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil led to a grounding of all aircraft.

Commercial planes can’t just be parked and left to sit, however.

Skeels said along with the increased demand for storage, the company is also working to recruit more than 120 aircraft maintenance technicians.

According to Federal Aviation Administration regulations, several procedures must take place to preserve planes while in storage, such as tire inflation, cleaning out the fuel system and inspection for moisture or mildew.

Skeels said this takes dedicated teams qualified to work on the different aircraft while they sit in the desert.

To quell concerns related to the coronavirus, she added that planes are cleaned and disinfected before flying into the airport and having technicians work on them.

“Hopefully, when all this subsides these aircraft will be deployed,” Skeels said.

According to the Los Angeles Times, over 2,600 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in California, with 55 deaths as of Tuesday evening.

San Bernardino County reported Tuesday evening its first coronavirus-related death, with the number of cases jumping to 38.

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With demand for air travel in a nosedive, U.S. airlines are taking hundreds of commercial planes out of service and parking them in remote desert airports, with the hope that the aircraft will be back in the air shortly.

The coronavirus outbreak has pushed so many planes out of service that the business of storing aircraft is taking off, with some remote airports parking more and more planes on seldom-used runways and taxiways.

“There is no doubt, we are extremely busy,” said Lisa Skeels, director of corporate initiatives for ComAv, an aircraft maintenance and storage firm at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville.

Because of the steep drop in demand for air travel and flight restrictions to international destinations, Delta and American Airlines, two of the world’s largest carriers, have announced plans to ground more than 1,000 planes combined. Southwest Airlines said it parked two dozen 737-700 planes over the weekend.

April 3, 2020

The need to store idle planes is one of several challenges facing the nation’s airline industry, which had only recently been reporting record profits and had invested heavily in new routes, spacious new airport lounges and more fuel-efficient planes.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. airlines have cut capacity by more than 1.4 million seats, or 6%, in the last week alone, according to OAG, an airline data company.

Some of the nation’s busiest airports have become ghost towns, with foot traffic at Los Angeles International Airport dropping 38% in the second week of March compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data analytics company Placer.

Some airlines, including low-cost carrier Spirit, are trying to drum up business by offering one-way tickets for as little as $18 a seat, plus fees.

Major airlines reportedly are drafting plans for a potential shutdown of virtually all passenger flights because of falling demand and coronavirus outbreaks among air traffic control employees, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources.

A spokesman for American Airlines said, “We do not have any plans to shut down,” and a Delta Air Lines representative declined to comment on the Journal story.

Big U.S. carriers have announced plans to slash domestic flights by 30% and international flights by 75%, and some of the aircraft serving those routes may never return to service.

Airlines are likely to retire their older, less-efficient planes first, according to industry experts. Delta Air Lines has told investors that it was planning to accelerate the retirement of its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-88s and MD-90s, which came into service in the 1980s.

The biggest aircraft storage operations are in desert facilities in places such as Victorville, Roswell, N.M., and Tucson, where humidity is low and the runways and taxiways are long enough to accommodate any size of commercial plane.

April 13, 2020

Although airport operators say the business of aircraft storage is surging now, they don’t expect to reach capacity anytime soon.

“We still have a lot of room,” said Scott Stark, director of the Roswell International Air Center. The 5,000-acre facility, located about six miles south of the city of Roswell, can accommodate about 800 planes but is currently storing about 275.

Stark said the air center has an additional 200-acre paved area, which is normally unused, that can also be used to park planes, as long as the pilots are careful “not to park on the soft spots” in the aging pavement.

Tulsa International Airport has been able to close a seldom-used runway to fit about 50 American Airlines planes without affecting regular operations, said Andrew Pierini, marketing director for the airport.

The airport has space for many more planes — the exact number depends on the size of the planes — and has reached out to other airlines that may need to ground aircraft, he said.

At the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, ComAv, the aircraft maintenance and storage company, operates a 240-acre facility with enough space to store more than 500 planes, plus hangars that can be used to maintain several more.

ComAv is now storing about 275 planes and can hold an additional 200 planes, Skeels said. ComAv has been inundated with requests for its aircraft storage services but Skeels said she can’t divulge the names of the airlines seeking the services or the number of planes they may want to store.

The coronavirus outbreak is only the latest crisis to boost demand for aircraft storage facilities.

Hundreds of Boeing 737 Max planes were grounded after the crashes of Indonesian Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019. A combined 346 people died in the crashes.

Boeing had reported more than 5,000 orders for the plane but delivered fewer than 400 aircraft, most of which have been stored at remote airfields until aviation regulators determine that the plane is safe to fly again.

Southwest Airlines has parked more than 30 of its 737 Max planes at the Southern California Logistics Airport. United Airlines has about a dozen 737 Max jets stored at Phoenix Goodyear Airport, west of Phoenix. American Airlines has about two dozen 737 Max planes stored at Tulsa International Airport and at the Roswell International Air Center in New Mexico.

April 9, 2020

Grounding a 130,000-pound plane involves more than just a big stretch of pavement.

Aircraft storage facilities typically charge a base rate simply for parking a plane. The biggest expense is the cost of the aircraft services to keep the plane maintained and ready to return to operation.

At Tulsa International Airport, the standard parking rate for an aircraft is 40 cents per thousand pounds a day. That means that a Boeing 777-300ER that weighs roughly 370,000 pounds would cost around $150 a day to store.

In addition to the cost of parking, a facility may charge maintenance costs that begin at about $2,000 per plane a month, depending on the services required, according to published reports.

A commercial passenger plane can’t sit indefinitely on a desert tarmac if the airline hopes to quickly return the aircraft to service, said Henry Harteveldt, an airline analyst with Atmosphere Research Group.

“It’s a lot more involved,” he said. “It’s a lot more than simply parking your car on a lot when you go on a trip.”

The amount and type of maintenance that must be done to an idle plane depends on how soon the airline hopes to return the aircraft to operation, Harteveldt said.

An aircraft’s avionics, hydraulics, electronics and other operating systems must be regularly checked and tested. Maintenance manuals typically spell out how often such services must be performed.

If a plane is going to be stored for several months, the aircraft will be put into an “airplane coma,” which involves draining or replacing all liquids and sealing the doors and the engines, Harteveldt said.

The question for the airline industry is how long to park the unused planes.

If the industry expects the coronavirus outbreak to affect travel for several months, then the grounded planes may undergo the more intensive idling process. But if travel demand is expected to return within weeks, the grounded planes can simply get routine maintenance so they can be ready to fly shortly.

Harteveldt said he doesn’t know how soon grounded planes will fly again.

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The Victorville-based logistics magnate has been instrumental to its client based in numerous ways. For some, it’s working on the problems with the Boeing 737 Max. For others, it’s simply offering a place to park jets in light of pandemic-related reduced air traffic and sales slumps.

“ComAv has been a part of the MDAQMD for over 22 years. As one of the largest employers at SCLA, we are committed to environmentally responsible practices for our community and continued sustainable processes within the aviation industry,” said Craig Garrick, ComAv CEO and President. “As most of our employees make their home in the High Desert communities, we want to ensure that we are doing our part to create a better environment. We are so grateful for this award; we want to thank MDAQMD for this recognition, and our hard-working teams that have made this happen.”

Nominations are sought annually from the community and MDAQMD staff on local organizations and individuals excelling in efforts to reduce emissions. ComAv has undertaken a large-scale transition to environmentally friendly equipment and practices. This includes replacing two 1976 diesel tugs with new, low-emission equivalents that reduced emissions output by more than 2.5 tons per year. The company is also retiring an older piece of equipment for every new eco-friendly it puts into operation.

“Hats off to all of our nominees this year, but a special thanks to ComAv for making our jobs in managing our air quality a little easier,” said Brad Poiriez, Executive Director of the MDAQMD. “There are few things more rewarding than seeing local companies take initiatives to reduce air pollution.”

ComAv took advantage of grant funds available through the District for some of these projects. They plan to continue with more projects planned for the future including an electric, zero-emission mobile staircase that is currently being designed.

ComAv Technical Services, a certified global airframe, and powerplant support provider, is an FAA 145 Repair Station and EASA certified aircraft and engine short or long-term storage, transitional maintenance, heavy maintenance disassembly service organization. ComAv supports both end-user and MRO customers with a major workforce of full-time licensed airframe and powerplant mechanics and world-class airport facilities. ComAv is the most experienced company globally for aircraft storage and transitional maintenance, having transitioned over several thousand aircraft and engines over 22 years.

MDAQMD is the air pollution control authority and permitting agency for the High Desert portion of San Bernardino County and the Palo Verde Valley in Riverside County. It’s governed by a board of 13 members representing nine incorporated municipalities and two counties within its boundaries. Visit mdaqmd.ca.gov or follow @MDAQMD on social media.

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By Maria Pasquini and Mackenzie Schmidt April 27, 2020 05:41 PM

As U.S. airlines are facing drastic changes amid the coronavirus pandemic, unused planes are being stored at various locations around the country — and one airport in California is now providing a temporary home to hundreds of empty airliners.

At Southern California Logistics Airport, which is located in the Mojave Desert town of Victorville, one of the airport’s two runways has been shut down to accommodate hundreds of planes no longer being used by Delta, Southwest and FedEx, as shown in a viral YouTube video by amateur pilot and video editor Bryan Keith.

In his video, Keith is granted permission to fly over the airport by tower controllers, who tells him that while they didn’t have an exact number of planes being stored there, they thought there were “over 400” — with more due to arrive in the future.

“I don’t even want to know how many billions of dollars of jets are down there,” Keith says while flying over, documenting the long lines of planes parked closely together up and down the runway area.

Airplanes parked in Victorville, California | CREDIT: WOLFICORN/YOUTUBE

Airplanes parked in Victorville, California | CREDIT: WOLFICORN/YOUTUBE

RELATED: United Airlines CEO Says Travel Dropped 97 Percent, Warns Employees to Prepare for Job Cuts

Offering up some explanation as to why the planes were being kept at the Victorville airport, Keith shares that a few factors are in play.

“It’s a dry location, a remote location,” he says in the video, adding that ComAv Technical Services, a “kind of storage facility company for these big airlines,” operates there as well.

“This is truly a unique scene that underscores this unique moment in history,” he says in the video, adding that “there’s something unnatural about seeing all these aircrafts sitting abandoned in the hot desert sun.”

“They want to be flying. They want to be taking us to visit our family, our friends, and far away destinations that we’ve always dreamed about,” he continues. “They were meant to bring the world together in a time when we need to stay apart.”

Airplanes parked in Victorville, California

Keith, who has been flying recreationally for over a decade, went on to tell PEOPLE that the amount of grounded planes is something he’s never seen before.

“I don’t think anybody has ever seen anything like that, except possibly after 9/11. But that only lasted for a couple of days,” he says.

“I had always known Victorville was a storage depot for airplanes that are usually either being scrapped or reused for parts. I came across a news article that some airlines were using that location as a temporary holding location when the airlines began scaling down their operations as a result of COVID-19,” he explains, adding that while he’s restricted his own flying habits, he “figured a quick hop over to Victorville would make an interesting flight.”

Going on to note the success of the video, which has nearly 3 million views, Keith shared that the comments section has been filled with a variety of different responses. “Some are simply grateful for the video,” he says, noting that “others really open up about their own personal experience regarding the pandemic.”

Airplanes parked in Victorville, California | CREDIT: WOLFICORN/YOUTUBE

Illustrating just how much airplane travel has been affected by the global health crisis, earlier this month United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby said the company had seen a 97 percent reduction in demand, noting that they “expect to fly fewer people during the entire month of May than we did on a single day in May 2019.”

Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation predicted last month that many airlines will have a hard time bouncing back financially, although the three major U.S. airlines — Delta, United and American, which have all dramatically reduced the number of flights and areas to which they fly — will likely survive.

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By Victor Valley News Group

VICTORVILLE — New airliner tug vehicles purchased with a Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District (MDAQMD) grant will allow local business, ComAv, to operate more efficiently, while cutting more than 2.5 tons per year of emissions. 

Thanks to Carl Moyer funding provided by MDAQMD, ComAv (Commercial Aviation Services) – which handles premier airliner asset management and technical services – replaced two 1976 International Diesel Tugs with two 2019 Towbar Tractor B950s, reducing emissions by 96%. MDAQMD’s funds covered 71.5% of the cost of the new equipment.

“We are very appreciative of the Mojave Desert AQMD and their very significant contribution to ComAv’s continuing investment to upgrade its Ground Support Equipment to the highest air quality standards and efficiency available,” said ComAv CEO Craig Garrick. “I cannot say enough about the professionalism of the AQMD staff and the department’s overall support for the growing number of high paying jobs at ComAv and for other employers in the High Desert generally.”

Carl Moyer grant funding is just one of many funding opportunities available through MDAQMD, which already this year has worked to purchase electric school buses for local districts, and replace several pieces of equipment for High Desert Cement companies with low-emission equivalents, including $1 million toward a new locomotive for Victorville CEMEX.

“We’ve really kicked our grant programs into high gear over the last year and it is making a significant, tangible improvement in the air that High Desert residents are breathing,” said Brad Poiriez, Executive Director of MDAQMD. “We’re fortunate to have great working relationships with our permit holders and the local business community, which makes executing these grant agreements seamless and expedient.”

The grant money also allowed ComAv to free up money to purchase a new low-emission forklift, continuing their efforts to improve efficiency and air quality.

“We are excited to be able to have an all Tier 4 heavy fleet thanks to the efforts and funding from the Mojave AQMD,” said Dave Murphy, Director of Environmental, Health & Safety Assurance.

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VICTORVILLE, CA – June 22^nd, 2017 – Along with celebrating an anniversary of 19 years in operation, ComAv was once again recognized for a 12th year for exceeding in excellence among their aircraft maintenance staff & professionals. At a ceremony on Wednesday at the company’s facilities at the Southern California Logistics Airport., Victorville’s own ComAv Technical Services (ComAv) received the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) highest recognition.

ComAv received the coveted FAA Diamond Award of Excellence for Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) Training. This prestigious award recognizes aviation companies and maintenance specialists that initiate highly effective training programs aimed at improving safety and technical knowledge that exceed standard FAA regulatory requirements.

“This recognition is really a testament to the hard work and dedication of our employees,” said ComAv CEO Craig Garrick. “That we can bring this recognition to our hometown in Victorville is an added benefit, and we are honored to do our part to help bring positive attention to the airport.”

Dr. Paul Foster, a nationally known expert on aviation safety, airworthiness and maintenance from the FAA presented the Diamond Award to ComAv CEO Craig Garrick and his dedicated staff.

May 24^th was chosen because it is Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) Day, created to recognize aviation’s first mechanic, Charles E. Taylor. Aviation’s original “Unsung Hero,” Mr. Taylor is universally referred to as the “Father of Aircraft Maintenance,” and built the first aircraft engines by hand, enabling mankind to conquer controlled powered flight.

“Only five other companies in the world have achieved what ComAv has in receving the Diamond Award for a 12^th time,” said Dr.Paul Foster from the FAA’s Riverside office.

AMT Day is celebrated throughout the aircraft maintenance community. The Diamond Award is the highest recognition from an industry that requires a high standard of knowledge, skill and integrity, as a way to recognize the men and women who care for commercial, general aviation, corporate, private, civil, military or experimental aircraft.

About ComAv
ComAv, an acknowledged worldwide leader in commercial aircraft asset management services, including aircraft and engine technical evaluation, storage, maintenance, sales and leasing, has received the honor twelve times in the Thirteen-year history of the award. The 19-year-old company is based at the Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) on the site of the former George Air Force Base in Victorville, CA.

You can learn more about ComAv by visiting www.comav.com or Facebook www.facebook.com/comavLLC

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