Grounded planes sit out Covid-19 pandemic in the mountains

Airplanes sitting on the tarmac at the site of aircraft storage and recycling company Tarmac Aerosave in Tarbes, France. — Reuters

At the airport of Tarbes in France, row upon row of empty jets in liveries from Asia to Africa sit nose to tail on the tarmac, waiting out the coronavirus crisis in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

Air travel has tumbled to a fraction of normal levels due to the Covid-19 pandemic, grounding about two thirds of the world’s fleet and stretching Europe’s largest aircraft storage company.