=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2002/03= /05/BU13058.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, March 5, 2002 (SF Chronicle) MOTHBALLED IN MOJAVE/Desert airport becomes post-Sept. 11 jetliner ghost to= wn Marshall Wilson, Chronicle Staff Writer Mojave, Kern County -- There are more planes than people at the Mojave Airport. A stunning sight greets visitors to this town on the edge of nowhere -- hundreds of parked jetliners sprawl across the desert floor, looking from afar like so many children's toys. The ghost fleet is not a mirage but a barometer of the nation's airline industry. Since Sept. 11, the number of aircraft parked at Mojave Airport has swelled to nearly 300 from about 70 before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They've come from American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, KLM, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic -- some of the world's largest carriers. They began arriving daily after airlines slashed schedules after the attacks. The dry air of Mojave, the nation's largest way station for grounded planes, located about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, helps prevent corrosion. A= nd it costs less -- $250 a month -- to park a Boeing 727 at the airport than it does to park a car in downtown San Francisco. BRAND-NEW PLANES Some planes are brand new, ordered before last year's economic slowdown and then mothballed after flight schedules were slashed after the Sept. 11 attacks. At one end of the airport, seven Boeing 737s sporting the Southwest Airlines color scheme of purple over red and orange shimmer in the late winter sun, windows taped over, doors sealed and engines wrapped tightly against the dust. "They've only got four hours on them. They were flown from Boeing (in Seattle) straight to here," said Rick Quillen, the airport's security chief. Some planes are returning to service as jittery passengers slowly return to the skies. After dropping sharply in September and October, passenger numbers are climbing. Still, levels are 14 percent lower than a year ago. CUTS AT UNITED The figures for United Airlines, the largest carrier at San Francisco International Airport, show how slow the rebound has been. After Sept. 11, United slashed 800 flights from its worldwide schedule of 2, 400 daily flights. At SFO, the carrier cut the number of daily flights from 230 before Sept. 11 to 160 as of February. United is now recalling flight attendants and pilots and recently announced plans to add 120 flights. "We're seeing an increase in demand, but certainly not at the levels we'd like to see," said United spokesman Chris Brathwaite. Other carriers are also boosting service. "We had two Virgin Atlantic 747s come in. One flew out the other day. Th= ey put it back into service," Quillen said. GAS-GUZZLERS GROUNDED But dozens of other planes mothballed at Mojave and other desert airports across the Southwest will never fly again. Most are older, gas-guzzling models that will be drained, stripped and scrapped. "We've cut some up and shipped them to Hong Kong and Taiwan in seagoing containers. They make restaurants out of them," said Dan Sabovich, the airport general manager. The last time Sabovich saw such an influx of aircraft was after the Gulf War. But he's never seen so many planes arrive so quickly and stay grounded for so long. U.S. carriers have mothballed about 650 planes in the past few months, according to the Air Transport Association, an industry trade group. About 350 of those are directly attributed to the attacks, while the remainder were already destined for storage because of the economic downturn that began before the attacks. United, for instance, has grounded its entire fleet of 75 narrow-body Boeing 727s and older 737s. The airline was already planning to phase out the planes, but the move was accelerated after Sept. 11, Brathwaite said. Another reason to mothball planes is the airlines' desperate need to cut costs. "One way is to control costs is to run a fuel-efficient fleet," said Mike Wascom of the Air Transport Association. A Boeing 727, once the workhorse of the airline industry, burns roughly = 1, 300 gallons of fuel per hour, Wascom said. A newer model Boeing 737, which seats roughly the same number of passengers, burns slightly more than 800 gallons per hour. "If you're looking to cut costs, bringing back a gas-guzzler doesn't get you there," Wascom said. The surplus of aircraft has led to a free fall in the price of used jetliners. PRICE TAG $610,000 A 30-year-old 727 can be picked up for as little as $610,000, or about t= he price of a three-bedroom home on the Peninsula. "Essentially, there is no market for them," said Nick Lacey, executive vice president of Morten Beyer & Agnew, an aviation consulting firm. An older Boeing 747 in good condition now sells for $2.87 million, down from more than $4.5 million as of last summer, Lacey said. Prices of newer models have also plunged: A 747 built in 1995 now goes for $66.9 million, down from nearly $90 million last summer. It costs airlines as little as $250 a month to park a plane in the Mojav= e, which also doubles as a testing ground for stunt planes, prototypes and other high-tech fliers. Sabovich expects most of the jetliners will see service again, possibly not in the United States but somewhere in South America or Asia. Others are destined for the scrap heap. "When they're empty, they're like a beer can," he said. Sabovich has run the airport since 1969, and his walls are decorated with autographed photos from pilots from around the world. For now, the airport is quite a sight for travelers on their way to the Southern Sierra or Southern California. "You don't normally see that many commercial planes in one place not doi= ng anything," Lacey said. MOJAVE AIRPORT AT A GLANCE -- Nearly 300 jetliners in storage. -- Monthly storage cost ranges from $250 to $500. -- Doubles as a civilian flight test center and is home to exotic prototypes, rocket research and military contractors. -- Films shot at the airport include "MacArthur," "Die Hard II," "Tuskeg= ee Airmen," "Speed." Source: Chronicle research E-mail Marshall Wilson at marshallwilson@sfchronicle.com.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle