A 1966 Boeing 727 – a mid-size three-engine jet airliner designed for short- and medium-range trips – has sat idle on a runway at El Paso International Airport for nearly 20 years.
Deemed “not airworthy,” the white airplane with blue striping had been mostly gutted, parked under the scorching sun, heavy rainstorms, high winds and snowfall since the early 2000s.
Now the aircraft may have a chance at a new life after it was sold at auction this week.
The city listed the plane “in derelict condition” for auction on the government surplus website govdeals.com, and the auction closed Monday with 56 bids. The plane was further described as needing repairs that exceed its value.
It sold for about $10,000, including taxes and auction fees. The buyer – whose final bid was $20 over the next-highest bid – has until Jan. 27 to remove the plane or make arrangements with the airport, according to govdeals.com.
“I’m kind of excited to see what the new owner does with it,” El Paso International Airport Director Tony Nevarez told El Paso Matters, adding that he did not know who purchased the plane. He confirmed it was bought locally.
Nevarez said the city won’t know the identity of the buyer until the transaction is closed and the new owner makes arrangements to remove the plane from the airport.
But seeing how other airplanes have been transformed into homes, bars or public facilities, Nevarez is hopeful the plane will have a similar fate in the Borderland.
The plane was previously owned by a private charter flight company, whose owner died in an airplane accident years back, Nevarez said. The company stopped making parking payments required to maintain the plane at the airport, and the city in 2021 began legal proceedings to take possession of it as abandoned property.
Records show the plane was registered to Blue Falcon Corp., whose president, David Paul Tokoph – the first person to fly from Russia to El Paso – died from his injuries after the vintage Navy plane he was piloting crashed just outside the Las Cruces International Airport in August 2015.
Blue Falcon had purchased the Boeing 727 from the U.S. Marshals Service at a government auction, Nevarez said. Records show the plane had been used as part of the agency’s Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System – often referred to as “Con Air” after the Nicolas Cage movie.
Boeing 727 models were produced from 1963 to 1984 and became popular for commercial use in smaller airports with shorter runways, according to the Boeing Company. The noisy aircraft were also highly used for cargo and by the military, and were known for a set of stairs that opened from a hatch at their rear underbelly.
During its time parked at the El Paso airport, crews regularly checked for leaks and kept its tires inflated. The plane was rotated around a few times.
“It starts to become unsightly,” Nevarez said.
The proceeds from the sale will go back to the airport, said city Comptroller Margarita Marin.
Marin said that while abandoned property such as the Boeing is handled differently than surplus city equipment, proceeds from both sales go back to the original department or funding source. Over the past few years, surplus sales have brought in an average $318,000 a year, Marin said.
She said the city largely disposes of surplus property – mostly furniture – through online auctions. When a department has property it no longer uses – tables, chairs, cabinets, desks – it has to first make it available to other city departments.
If no one claims the property, the comptroller’s office then decides whether to put it out for auction. The government surplus auction is typically open over four days – Friday to Monday – and the winning bidder has three days to pick up the items or make arrangements.
The auctions are open to the public, but not available to city employees, Marin noted.
First-responder equipment – police cars, ambulances and fire trucks – are disposed of at auction through different avenues, Marin said.
The county of El Paso also regularly holds public online auctions for a variety of items.
Marin said some unique surplus sales have included a fueling station and heavy landfill equipment. But the Boeing airplane is perhaps the most distinctive, she said.
Nevarez has seen four planes at the El Paso airport go out for auction in his 21 years with the city.
Besides this week’s Boeing, Nevarez said the city has had to take possession of two small cargo Convair planes and a twin-engine plane that had been abandoned at the airport. He said in most cases, the airplanes’ owners die and their families are unable or unwilling to keep the planes running or move them out of the airport.
“We hate to see that happen but we have to keep our airport clean and looking good for our customers,” Nevarez said.
The post Sold! Boeing 727 long abandoned at El Paso airport sells for $10K at auction appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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