Why popular planes are being scrapped years earlier

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The Airbus A320neo, one of the world’s most popular aircraft, rolled off the factory line in Mobile, Alabama in July 2022, painted bright yellow, and headed for its next destination, Spirit Airlines.

Built to fly for decades. But less than four years later, in May, an excavator’s steel teeth tore the plane into pieces, stripping it of millions of dollars worth of parts at a facility outside Phoenix.

Industry executives told CNBC that more planes are being dismantled sooner than expected, if not decades later than expected. This is the result of a shortage of a component as valuable and expensive as an aircraft engine, infuriating airlines and driving up costs for years.

Even after the engines are removed, companies are looking for various parts, such as landing gear and antennas, to sell.

“This is the first time in my career that I have purchased an aircraft that is less than five years old,” said Bill Thompson, vice president of aircraft and engine procurement for the Americas at aviation asset management and trading company Airtrade Aviation, which purchased an Airbus A320neo that was less than four years old earlier this year.

He said the company paid “single-digit” millions of dollars each for that plane and other aging planes, and expected to make a profit by selling the more than 1,000 parts it removed before being crushed.

“I don’t know if I’m going to sell coffee makers or not, but you never know. I might sell them,” he said.

According to aviation data and advisory firm IBA Group, 21 latest generation aircraft were dismantled between June 2025 and August this year. The scrapped planes were on average 6.4 years old and were mostly Airbus planes, but also included some planes. boeing plane. According to IBA, this is comparable to the average retirement age for narrow-body aircraft of 21.7 years.

“When you come to a period of softening in the market in terms of aircraft availability and engine availability, investors will look at other options,” said Simon Goodson, CEO of Airfin, a company that buys, sells, repairs and leases aircraft and parts. “We always say to aircraft and engine traders, ‘Don’t fall in love with metal.'”

Hundreds of aircraft are retired each year as manufacturers ramp up production for airlines, replacing older aircraft with new, more fuel-efficient models.

But aside from retiring aging planes, some owners don’t want to wait for replacement parts or repairs on their young jets.

“One year may not seem like a long time, but is three or four years a long time?” said Dave Querio, CEO of Ascent Aviation Services, an aircraft repair, modification, storage and disassembly company based in Marana, Ariz., outside Tucson. “That’s the problem with the aircraft that came out in ’23, ’24, ’25.”

In some cases, owners can make more money on parts than they would have had to sell the plane or pay storage costs to wait for it to fly again.

Querio said he had never seen “a mass of young aircraft being dismantled like what I see today.”

Long wait times and rising prices for jet engines are the main reasons young people are retiring.

One problem is that advanced engines, which burn hotter and consume less fuel, are due for maintenance much earlier than airlines expect.

Due to maintenance requests, engine repair and overhaul facilities continue to be backed up from facilities owned by manufacturing giants. ge aerospace and RTX From Pratt & Whitney units to smaller independent units. Airlines and leasing companies are looking for spare parts and engines wherever they can find them, like here in Goodyear, Arizona.

This trend adds further fuel to the already hot used parts market. Goodson said engine fan blades can cost $50,000 and more than $100,000 for large jets. The engines that power some Airbus A320neo aircraft are equipped with 20 of these blades. On the other hand, a disc for an engine can cost between $1 million and $2 million.

An engine recall due to a manufacturing defect has closed repair shops and grounded hundreds of Airbus planes around the world. Spirit Airlines faced the brunt of its problems in the United States years before the airline went bankrupt.

The engine was manufactured by Pratt & Whitney, which announced a recall in 2023 after it was discovered that contaminated metal powder was used in the manufacture of some parts. The maximum price for these engines this year reached nearly $17 million, a 60% increase from the top of the 2019 price range, according to IBA.

Airlines are removing some engines from retired aircraft to keep their current aircraft flying while they wait for the engines to come back from the factory.

“So you’re just playing with Legos and making the plane’s engine move and move,” said Mike Stengel, a partner at aerospace consulting firm Aerodynamic Advisory.

The issue has driven up the cost of buying or renting popular engines to record levels.

Rental costs range from about $160,000 to $180,000 per month, according to IBA data. Competitive engine for the A320neo family manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture of ge aerospace Saffron in France is also far from cheap, with rents in a similar range ranging from $130,000 to $180,000 per month.

The problem with young retirees predates Spirit’s bankruptcy.

The four-year-old Airbus plane that crashed outside Phoenix in May is a key example. The plane was put into storage due to an engine recall and remained in storage until it was taken apart.

But the company’s demise means more Airbus planes are on the market, forcing owners to decide whether it’s worth waiting for engines and other parts.

CNBC visited AerSale’s On a scorching day in late June, less than two months after Spirit’s collapse, dozens of idle yellow planes were being stored at a facility in Goodyear. It wasn’t long after the airline’s demise that Glenn Zettin, a former Detroit-based Spirit captain, wandered in and asked about the opportunity to take Spirit planes into the desert and take a peek at the former airline’s planes.

“I knew the plane was there, so I wanted to see what happened,” said Zechin, who now flies a corporate jet.

The jet, which was parked in a storage facility and maintenance hangar, still had Spirit’s in-flight menu and safety card on its bungee-cord seatback. The pilot’s manual was still in the cockpit.

Not all of these aircraft will be destroyed. Some companies that owned Spirit planes before the bankruptcy will simply sell parts, while others may keep the planes. Other aircraft may continue to fly for other airlines, and potential airlines may strip Spirit’s narrow 28-inch seat pitch for something wider.

But unless you’re flying, you’ll pay storage fees that vary depending on the type of aircraft. Some aircraft at desert facilities were chosen because the dry climate allows the aircraft to be preserved better and avoid corrosion, but they can remain abandoned for decades.

Some aircraft may not be able to return to flight if there is sufficient demand for parts and the wait is too long for the plane to fly again.

“After you get rid of all that valuable equipment and sell it back to the aftermarket, all you’re really left with is literally just a bunch of dead metal that’s going to go on a crane and be crushed,” said Aerodynamic’s Stengel. Then the owner “may sell it to a recycler and turn it into something other than beer cans or aerospace.”

Ascent’s Querio said some owners choose to go that route.

“It’s a little depressing to watch sometimes,” he said. “But sometimes it’s kind of thrilling to see how quickly a plane gets broken up and sent to the smelter.”

— CNBC’s Erin Black contributed to this report.