When the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounded the Boeing 737 Max, planes weren’t left stranded where they were at the time of the halt. The grounded planes have flown thousands of miles across the country since the suspension as airlines move the planes to locations to wait for the halt to be lifted. Some planes were still taking off nearly a month later.
In the U.S., flights on the 737 Max continued mostly as usual on Tuesday, March 12, though dozens of other countries had already grounded the aircraft.
The FAA grounded the 737 Max midday March 13, after which no new passenger flights could take off. Because the FAA certifies the aircraft, the order effectively grounded the plane worldwide.
But the grounded planes weren’t stuck where they last landed. The FAA permits non-passenger flights for storage, testing and maintenance.
After the halt, U.S. airlines sent more than 70 passenger-free 737 Max jets back into the air. The destination? Storage. American Airlines flew many of its planes to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where it has a major maintenance base.
Southwest Airlines, the U.S. airline with the most 737 Max jets, sent several to Phoenix. United Airlines stored 11 planes among Houston’s two major airports.
Five days after the halt, U.S. airlines had stored most of their planes. But Boeing continued to run test flights from its facility in Renton, Washington, where many 737 Max jets await delivery.
The next week, Southwest Airlines moved most of its fleet to the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California. Boeing has continued its testing.
Almost all planes are now being stored at airports without regularly scheduled 737 Max flights. Airport space was the primary issue for American Airlines, spokesman Ross Feinstein said. The airline had nine of its 24 Max jets in Tulsa as of Friday, where it has a major maintenance base.
Southwest, the carrier that operates the most 737 Max planes, initially moved most of its 34-jet fleet to its maintenance depots, with a few at other airports that had “available parking capacity,” spokesman Chris Mainz said. But on March 23, the company began sending the majority of its planes to the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California, where the planes will wait in the dry Mojave Desert until the halt is lifted.
For Chicago-based United, it was Houston’s two airports—one of which is a United hub, the other has a maintenance base—that had room for most of its 737 Max 9 aircraft in the days after the halt.
Ferrying flights for storage slowed to a trickle the weekend after the grounding, then paused again after Southwest’s flurry of activity moving its aircraft to storage in Southern California. But Boeing has continued to conduct a handful of daily Max flights in post-production test runs from airports in the Seattle area, near the company’s assembly plant in Renton, Washington. Seattle-area airports are likely to see many more parked Max jets—Boeing has suspended customer deliveries of the jet, but continues to produce them at a rate of 42 a month, down from 52 a month after a recent production cut.