Qatar parking its fleet
From
Aviation HQ@2:292/854 to
All on Sun Mar 22 13:17:00 2026
Since last Wednesday, Qatar Airways aircraft have been landing one after another at Teruel Airport in eastern Spain. The airline is using the airport as a temporary safe storage facility now that it can barely fly to and from its home base in Doha anymore.
Teruel, northwest of Valencia, deep in the Spanish interior, received four Qatar Airways aircraft on Wednesday; one on Thursday, five on Friday, and six arrivals from "QR" were scheduled for Saturday. None of the aircraft are departing. The aircraft originate from Doha, Miami, Cape Town, Cairo, Sao Paulo, London, and Houston, among others. Three aircraft from other airlines are also being parked there, according to data from Flightradar24.
The Spanish airport is primarily an aircraft graveyard used for the dismantling of aircraft. But it is also popular as a parking lot. During the Covid crisis, 140 commercial aircraft were parked there. The dry, salt-free climate is well-suited for storing aircraft.
Now, these are mainly aircraft belonging to airlines whose schedules have been disrupted by the conflict in the Middle East. Furthermore, they cannot simply be deployed due to a potential kerosene shortage.
Normally two planes land per day at the former military base in the province of Aragón.
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* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)