Inside a remote Arizona aircraft boneyard storing nearly 300 planes grounded by the pandemic

Grounded airliners at Pinal Air Park in Marana, Arizona.AirlineGeeks/Ryan Ewing

• Pinal Air Park in Marana, Arizona is nearing capacity as it stores hundreds of grounded airliners amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Nearly 25 aircraft arrive at the aircraft boneyard each week, around five per day, with around 300 total to be stored at the airport by May.
• Special precautions need to be taken to ensure the aircraft are ready to return to service as soon as demand rebounds.
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Pinal Air Park in Marana, Arizona is just one of the many aircraft boneyards scattered across the Southwest.

They exist as a long-term storage facility for retired or grounded aircraft and are largely spread across New Mexico, Arizona, and California to take advantage of the favorable weather.

The desert climate that surrounds these facilities delays the effects of weathering as the metal birds await their destinies. The COVID-19 pandemic, recently, has given new purpose to some boneyards which are now acting as temporary storage facilities as airlines await the reopening of the country and its skies.

While from the outside Pinal Air Park may appear to be just a parking lot for jetliners, airlines are paying not only for the parking spots but also for technicians to ensure that the planes are ready to go the moment they're needed once again.

Delta Air Lines, Air Canada, and even Aer Lingus have been recent visitors to the airfield located along the interstate that connects Phoenix and Tucson.

Aviation journalist Ryan Ewing of AirlineGeeks witnessed first hand how new arrivals are processed and stored away as they await their time to return to the skies.

Take a look inside one of the nation's largest boneyards turned COVID-19 hideaway.