Kenya’s Airports Authority has had it, up to here, with abandoned and junked planes lying around its airports taking up space. And it has a plan to get rid of them by holding, essentially, an aircraft yard sale.
The 73 planes on sale have been abandoned by owners, many of whom are no longer in business. The Authority notified last-known addresses for all of the planes, and these are the ones with no responses.
It’s your chance to pick up the plane you’ve always wanted at the prices you never thought possible. Imagine a Boeing 707 for the equivalent of about $4500. If that’s too old for your taste, there’s also a variety of 737s, veterans of any number of gone and little-remembered airlines that have walked away from them.
In some cases, that may reflect actual value; the 707, for instance, suffered “substantial damage to its undercarriage” in a botched landing. On the other hand, the priciest item on the list, a CRJ100 regional jet, is going for about $170,000, and may actually be flyable. If bigger stuff is your taste, there’s also an ex Somali Air Force Lockheed Hercules.
Oh, by the way: If you’re planning to buy, be ready to move fast. The Airports Authority’s fine print gives you seven days to haul your purchase off the lot; after that a $150 a day storage charge kicks in.
