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Aviation glossary

Desert storage

Also: aircraft boneyard, boneyard, aircraft graveyard, storage facility

Manufacturing and maintenance

The parking of out-of-service aircraft in arid regions, where low humidity slows corrosion and land and space come cheap.

What it is

A dry climate is a parked aircraft's best friend. With little rain and low humidity, corrosion advances far more slowly and preservation work is simpler. Add wide expanses of inexpensive land, little air traffic and, at some sites, ground firm enough to take an aircraft's weight without paving.

The best-known facilities are in the south-western United States, including Victorville and Mojave in California, Marana in Arizona and Roswell in New Mexico. Further afield, Teruel in Spain and Alice Springs in the Australian outback stand out.

They may be nicknamed boneyards or graveyards, but many of the aircraft that arrive are never scrapped: they are simply waiting for a new operator or for demand to recover, and fly again. These sites usually offer maintenance, reactivation and dismantling as well.

On Vuelopedia

Periods in storage appear among the recorded events in an aircraft's record.

Related terms

StorageThe status of an aircraft that stops flying for a time and is parked under a preservation programme while its future is decided. ScrappingThe dismantling of a retired aircraft to recover its usable parts and recycle the rest of the structure for its materials. Return to serviceAn aircraft's return to operation after storage, repair or maintenance, once it has been confirmed as fit to fly. RetirementThe permanent removal of an aircraft, or of a whole type, from an operator's fleet, whether for sale, conversion, preservation or scrapping.
Whole glossary

Cite

To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.

This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Desert storage. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/desert-storage

MLA

“Desert storage.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/desert-storage. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Desert storage.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/desert-storage.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Desert storage. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/desert-storage (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_desert_storage,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Desert storage}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/desert-storage},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/desert-storage}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-18},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-18}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/desert-storage |title=Desert storage |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-18 |language=en}}

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