Coping with a Glut of Aircraft

摘要

AT THE end of November nearlya third of the world’s fleet ofsome 30,000 jet aircraft wereparked or in storage: this is equivalentto the total number of aircraftthat had been in commercial servicein 1990; in one year wiping out morethan a decade of growth.In any normal year there is asmall proportion of aircraft that aretemporarily parked or mothballed— pending return to service, conversionor scrappage (see chartright). Over the past three decadesthis has averaged 3% of the totalworld fleet (slightly more than thenatural retirement rate), but hastended to fluctuate depending on thestate of the economic and aviationcycles. The ratio shows peaks of5% after the 1990 downturn and5.0‐5.5% between 2002 and 2004 inthe aftermath of the September 11thcalamity. In the past decade it hasaveraged 2%.