Aircraft storage site at Alice Springs far from a graveyard

An aircraft storage site at Alice Springs has undergone a spectacular expansion during the Covid crisis. But what will happen when flying takes off again?

Out-of-service aircraft are parked at Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage’s site at Alice Springs. Picture: Steve Strike

An aircraft storage site in the Red Centre could be the nation’s greatest Covid success story, experiencing huge growth in the face of the pandemic.

A total of 140 aircraft ranging from turboprops to superjumbos are parked at the sprawling Alice Springs site, representing many of the region’s major carriers.

There are A380s from Singapore Airlines, A330s and Boeing 777s from Cathay Pacific, 737s from Garuda Indonesia and A320s and ATRs from Cebu ­Pacific, plus a variety of jets from aircraft lessors.

In response to the seemingly endless stream of mothballed aircraft, Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage has undergone a rapid expansion from the equivalent of about four rugby fields of aeroplane parking to 30.

“Everyone thinks we started just as Covid struck but we set up this business 12 years ago, and we were just about to build stage two,” APAS managing director Tom Vincent said. “We were well-placed and ­positioned to catch the wave of demand for storage.”

In the space of 18 months, three new stages have been added with work under way on a new 12,000sq m engine run bay, and plans for a huge stage five.

The storage site pictured in August 2019. Picture: Nearmap

And the site pictured again in March this year illustrates the growth in number of aircraft in storage. Picture: Nearmap

The development reflected Mr Vincent’s confidence that the need for aircraft storage would continue to grow even when borders reopened and international travel resumed.

“There continues to be re-fleeting by airlines, with older, less efficient aircraft being replaced with next-generation, fuel-efficient aircraft with more favourable maintenance cycles,” he said.

“We’re also seeing a lot more demand from aircraft lessors who are seeing a huge number of lease returns.”

The reset of business travel was another change likely to lead to airlines readjusting their fleets in the years ahead.

Like many others in the aviation industry, Mr Vincent believed the pandemic would structurally change the business travel segment.

“Once we all jumped on a plane (for work) without even thinking about it, but the past 18 months and the embrace of virtual technology will drive companies to question the need for that,” he said.

But any suggestion that APAS would become more of an “aircraft graveyard” post-Covid, filled with ageing, unwanted jets, was dismissed by Mr Vincent.

He said any aircraft not suitable for reactivation were parted out and disassembled by a highly skilled workforce.

“To call us a boneyard is a blight on what we do,” he said.

“In the last 18 months we reactivated 48 aircraft. All returned to service with nil defects.”

Among those aircraft were eight Boeing 737 MAX 8s, sent to Alice Springs by owners Silk Air and Fiji Airways after the March 2019 global grounding.

Mr Vincent said APAS carried out all the modifications and upgrades to allow them to return to the skies earlier this year with regulatory approval.

“We’ve also returned three A380s to Singapore Airlines in pristine condition,” he said.

The Northern Territory government has recognised the contribution APAS was making to the local economy, bestowing the company with the title of “exporter of the year” on Friday.