The Weekend Intelligence: The Economist Ex-planes

周末情报:经济学人解析

The Intelligence from The Economist

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2025-04-05

33 分钟
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In the Arizona desert the hulking metal carcasses of planes dot the vast dry expanse. In Tarbes, tail fins point towards the snow-capped mountains in the distance. On a motorway in Uttar Pradesh, an A320 is now a roadside diner. These are some of the places planes go when they've done their victory lap and come back down to earth for the final time.  On this episode of The Weekend Intelligence, the Economist's Asia Correspondent Leo Mirani, a self-professed plane geek, travels the world to see what becomes of his beloved flying craft when they reach the end of their service, and discovers an aviation afterlife.  Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+
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  • I'm old enough to remember when you got on an aeroplane and there was one TV for every cabin,

  • even on a long-haul flight.

  • There was a whirring noise,

  • then a screen smaller than the average laptop would come down from the ceiling.

  • You'd plug in headphones with wide rubber tubes provided by the airline.

  • No one had their own headphones in those days.

  • Then you'd crane your neck to get a peek at the screen.

  • Heaven help you if the film had subtitles.

  • That was a time when flying was still a luxury.

  • You'd get free flight socks and an eye mask.

  • Smoking used to be allowed.

  • Pre-911, we used to eat our airline meals with metal cutlery.

  • Remember that?

  • I still think of those early, rare flying experiences sometimes.

  • But not once had I wondered what happened to that generation of planes when they were retired.

  • Until now.

  • I'm Rosie Bloor and today on the weekend intelligence,

  • my colleague Leo Morani goes on the hunt for the airliners of yesteryear.

  • He's a plane geek, so expect some fuselage details.

  • But he's also delved into the strange afterlife of those magnificent flying machines.