American Airlines to store 787 planes in Tulsa during coronavirus outbreak

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) - After announcing it will cut three-fourths of its international flights, American Airlines said Monday it will store some of its 787 fleet at Tulsa International Airport.

The airline operates 42 of the Boeing wide-body jets to destinations such as Tokyo, São Paulo and Paris. American suspended many of those flights after the White House announced travel restrictions on European and Asian countries during the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline said in a news release, the flights will be grounded until at least May 6.

An American Airlines spokesperson said there is not a timeline on when the planes could be airborne again but said that the Tulsa Maintenance Base will play a significant role when the time comes. The airline also plans to store it's Airbus A330 fleet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Boeing 777 jets in Roswell, New Mexico.

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Many of the planes will be stored on taxiways and on available tarmac space, joining more than a dozen of 737 planes already in Tulsa.

In March of 2019, American parked 16 of its 737 Max 8 jets after federal authorities grounded the plane. Two separate crashed killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Those planes remain stored on the tarmac.