How American Airlines takes planes out of storage

American Airlines is pulling all of its planes back into service by the end of the month. But it's not like restarting your car. Right now, crews are inspecting everything from cockpits to coffee machines aboard airliners that have been parked during the pandemic.

Tulsa, Oklahoma (CNN) — Roger Steele's mission is preparing a plane for your summer vacation. Steele, an assistant manager at American Airlines' largest maintenance base, is leading a team of mechanics unwrapping, inspecting, cleaning and refurbishing jets that the airline placed in storage for much of the last year. With so few travelers then, the airline simply didn't need as many planes. American retired entire models from its fleet -- it will no longer fly the Boeing 757 and 767, the Embraer E190 and the Airbus A330-300. Among other models, it selected some planes to keep flying, and put those it didn't need -- including 300 of the 737 workhorse -- temporarily in storage until economic and coronavirus conditions improved.