While regulators contemplate whether Boeing’s 737 Max can safely return to the skies, workers in a California airplane-storage yard keep a careful vigil against earthier concerns.
Crews have sealed 34 Southwest Airlines jets against the Mojave Desert’s sun, wind and sand, as well as insects and birds that can creep into wheel wells and engine air inlets. Southwest declined to discuss the expense, but one industry veteran said such sojourns run about $2,000 a month for each plane — a small but critical cost amid Boeing’s many looming financial penalties.
The attention lavished now on the planes will help determine how fast the Max get back in the air once a worldwide grounding is lifted. Designed to ferry throngs of travelers, the young jets’ only daily visitors these days are technicians who draw fuel samples to scout for bacterial contamination.
