Qatar Airways has parked 22 aircraft at Spain's Teruel Airport in a concentrated surge over six days, according to FlightRadar24 data.

The move to shift inventory to Spain comes as the Gulf carrier joins a growing number of airlines storing excess capacity following widespread airspace closures triggered by the war on Iran by the US and Israel.

Flightradar24 data shows 25 aircraft arrived at Teruel between March 16 and March 26 without a planned departure date, with 21 of the 22 Qatar Airways jets delivered in a six-day surge between March 18 and 24, Simple Flying reported on March 27.

The influx mirrors scenes from the Covid-19 pandemic, when Teruel became one of the world's primary storage sites as global fleets were grounded.

The Spanish airport, located in a remote area of Aragon and better known for aircraft storage and maintenance than scheduled services, has capacity for more than 120 aircraft across a site covering 5.4mn square metres.

Qatar Airways is not the only carrier to have made use of the facility. British Airways has stored an Airbus A380 there since March 16, Azul ferried an A330-200 in from Brazil on March 20, and Air France delivered a Boeing 777-300ER on March 25.

When the war on Iran escalated sharply on February 28, widespread airspace closures across the Persian Gulf forced carriers operating Gulf hubs to rapidly reassess capacity needs. Although Emirates and Qatar Airways have both gradually ramped up operations since, airlines still find themselves with more aircraft than current routes can absorb.

TARMAC Aerosave operates a maintenance, repair and overhaul unit at the site, taking advantage of the region's dry climate. With no immediate resolution to the Gulf airspace disruption in sight, further aircraft arrivals at Teruel are expected.