Boeing Forced to Store Grounded 737 Max Planes on Employee Parking Lots
The company has so many planes awaiting repairs at its Washington State facility that it’s quickly running out of room.
Every neighborhood has that one house with a bunch of cars parked scattered throughout the front yard—it never fails. But what about when that house is a global aviation company? And what if instead of cars they're actually giant commercial jets? No, you're not reading The Onion. Boeing has so many planes waiting to be repaired at its Washington State factory right now that it's actually having to park them on its employee parking lots.
You’ve probably heard by now that the Boeing 737 Max has been grounded in multiple countries around the world, pending updates to its flight control systems and allowing time for proper pilot training on Boeing's proprietary technology. However, what most of us hadn't seen until now is how and where all of those planes are being kept while technicians sort out repairs..
As The Points Guy noted back in April, some airlines like Southwest are moving planes to specific airports to get them out of the way. At least for Boeing itself, finding room to put all of the giant planes has proven difficult. So hard, in fact, that the company has moved several of them out of the factory area and into various lots surrounding its enormous Everett compound. In fact, the Renton Factory in Washington State just plopped its surplus 737 Max units out in the same lot shared with the company’s commuting employees.
As Bloomberg reports, there are roughly 500 grounded planes around the world, and somewhere around 100 of them are at the Renton factory alone. With a wingspan reaching nearly 118 feet, it’s no wonder they’ve had to find creative ways to park the behemoths.
h/t: Jalopnik