Engine Shortage Is Sending Young Airliners to the Scrapyard

A nearly new Airbus A320neo that rolled off the line in Mobile, Alabama, in July 2022 was supposed to fly for decades. Painted in Spirit Airlines yellow, it was instead stripped for parts and crushed by an excavator outside Phoenix this May, less than four years into its service life, according to a CNBC report published Saturday.

It is not an isolated case. Aviation executives told CNBC that more aircraft are being dismantled years, even decades, ahead of schedule because engines and other components are in short supply. Even after engines are pulled, firms are hunting for everything from landing gear to antennae to resell.

The buyer of that A320neo, EirTrade Aviation, paid what vice president Bill Thompson described as “single-digit” millions each for it and a similarly aged jet. Thompson said it was the first time in his career he had bought an aircraft less than five years from its manufacture date. The firm expects to profit from selling more than 1,000 parts taken off the two planes.

The data points the same way. Aviation advisory firm IBA Group counted 21 newest-generation aircraft torn down from June 2025 through this past August, mostly Airbus with some Boeing jets mixed in. Their average age was 6.4 years. The average retirement age for narrow-body planes is 21.7 years, according to IBA.

Engines are at the center of the squeeze. Newer designs that burn hotter and use less fuel are reaching their maintenance milestones far sooner than airlines expected, CNBC reported. That has backed up repair and overhaul shops, from those run by GE Aerospace and RTX’s Pratt & Whitney to smaller independents. A 2023 Pratt & Whitney recall over contaminated powdered metal used in some parts added to the logjam and grounded hundreds of Airbus planes worldwide. Spirit bore the brunt in the U.S. before its collapse.

Prices reflect the scarcity. Those Pratt & Whitney engines are worth close to $17 million at the high end this year, up 60% from the top of the 2019 range, per IBA. Monthly rentals run roughly $160,000 to $180,000, while a competing CFM International engine for the A320neo family rents for about $130,000 to $180,000. Parts are pricey too: AerFin CEO Simon Goodson said a single fan blade can cost $50,000 or more than $100,000 for bigger jets, and a disc can run $1 million to $2 million.

The math can favor the shredder. Owners sometimes net more from parts than from selling a plane or paying storage while waiting for engines to return from the shop. “Anytime that you end up with any period of market softness in aircraft availability, engine availability, it’s going to cause investors to look at other options,” Goodson told CNBC. His advice to traders: “Please don’t fall in love with the metal.”

Airlines are improvising in the meantime, pulling engines off retired planes to keep active jets flying. “So you’re just playing Legos and moving engines on and off aircraft,” AeroDynamic Advisory partner Mike Stengel said.

Spirit’s collapse has pushed more of its Airbus fleet onto the market, forcing owners to decide whether waiting for engines is worth it. Dave Querio, CEO of Ascent Aviation Services in Marana, Arizona, said he has not seen this volume of younger aircraft torn down before, and pointed to planes delivered in 2023, 2024 and 2025 as the ones facing the longest waits.

For New York’s airline, leasing and aviation-finance community, the takeaway is blunt: when engines are the scarce asset, the airframe is just the packaging.