COVID-19 grounds a third of world's planes in hit to leasing market

The aviation industry has taken a direct blow from the coronavirus, with an estimated 8,600 aircraft -- one-third of the global fleet -- grounded during a month that is normally the high season for vacations. A total of 383 planes stood idle at Roswell International Air Centre in New Mexico, known an "aircraft boneyard," as of Aug. 18, according to Cirium, a UK aviation analytics company. The number represents a sharp increase from 103 at the beginning of this year. Many US airline companies are parking Boeing's 737s and 777s at Roswell for fees of $10 to $14 a day. As airline companies around the world reduce flights, they are being forced to store the planes at boneyards such as Roswell. Cirium puts the number of such aircraft at 8,600 as of mid-August, or roughly a third of the global fleet. Furthermore, demand for travel is not recovering rapidly. Data from British airline information company OAG shows that in Europe, where mobility restrictions were eased, international flights in the third week of August were still about 60% less than at the same time last year.<br/>