Overview
- Qatar Airways said it moved some jets outside Qatar as a temporary step due to "extraordinary circumstances," with flight data showing about 20 aircraft sent to the Teruel storage site in Spain.
- Teruel is a dry, high-elevation hub built for long parking with room for about 250 aircraft, and bringing jets back from deep storage can take around two months and cost more than €500,000 per plane per year.
- The aircraft flown in include Airbus A330s and A350s and Boeing 787s, and one A380 from London was also parked there, according to reporting that cited Flightradar24.
- Other Gulf carriers have reshaped flying as demand slumped and risks rose, with Gulf Air shifting jets from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia and Emirates keeping sparse passenger flights to carry freight after a sharp drop in global cargo capacity.
- Aviation experts say parking widebodies in Spain protects assets from drone and rocket threats and shows airlines do not expect a quick resolution to the conflict.