Excess Passenger Jets Retire On Vast Desert Air Field

MARANA, AZ - AUGUST 15: Bill Swaney works on the engine compartment of a Beachcraft 1900 turbo-prop airplane at Evergreen Air Center August 15, 2005 in Marana, Arizona. This aircraft is owned by a local carrier, Mesa Air. More than 50 clients use the storage facility, which is billed as the world's largest commercial aircraft storage facility. The facility currently stores about 260 commercial aircraft. Located in the Southwest's Sonoran desert, Evergreen provides a dry, non-corrosive environment which is needed to store the large commercial airplanes as they await their fate. Some are stored for a short time, while they undergo maintenance at the 350,000 square feet of support shops, including avionics, component overhaul as well as interior refurbishments. Others will be cut up and sold for scrap aluminum, valued at approximately $16,000. The Air Center has a staff of about 650 aircraft technicians at the 1,600 acre facility, located just north of Tucson, Arizona. The technicians are certified to work on any size commercial aircraft, from Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas and regional jet fleets. (Photo by Gary Williams/Getty Images)

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