As the number of planes parked in Australia's red heartland approaches 100, the rapidly growing Alice Springs storage site has become a new stop for travelers.
Tom Vincent, president of Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage (Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage), said passers-by stopped to photograph vast parking spaces as more planes arrived.
He said that due to the surge in demand due to the COVID crisis, they expect to arrive at 100 aircraft on October 6.
Dozens of Cathay Pacific, Cathay Pacific Dragonair and Hong Kong Express have recently joined the fleet, including billions of aircraft from A380 to Fokker 100.
The result is that APAS are now speeding up the expansion of its fourth phase, which will increase Alice Springs capacity to 160 to 200 aircraft in a few weeks.
"I have to admit that in the past few months I have been mostly stuck in the office by phone. I went to the scene last week, and there was a double harvest ," Mr. Vincent said.
"The size of the facility, the size of the aircraft, the number of aircraft and the combination of aircraft are certainly worth looking at. "
APAS also opened a second aircraft warehouse at Wellcamp airport in Toowoomba Queensland.
At the moment, Mr. Vincent said, a Virgin Australia 737 was parked there and more were about to arrive.
"We're having a hard time placing them immediately Alice Springs, so we' re working with (airport owners) John Wagner ," he said.
"Toowoomba humidity is higher than Alice Springs, but better than the east coast. Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane all have higher humidity than Toowoomba, and the latter have no salt problems. "
Mr Vincent said that as the demand for aircraft storage continues to grow, especially from Asian airlines, it is conceivable that APAS can store up to 300 aircraft.
"I have always thought that we would have 200 planes there, which may have taken a longer time because of the market in recent years. "he said. "Nobody can predict what will happen after the 737 Max( Boeing grounded), which means many old planes have not retired as planned.
"And now it has changed, and many 777 and A330 and some aging narrow-body aircraft may not be needed for a while, or even forever. "
While the future of many aircraft is uncertain, Mr. Vincent said he did not believe that the Alice Springs's parking site would become a "bone yard ", but stacked it there.
"We don't park planes and leave them there and do nothing. They have been engaged in various maintenance work to keep them seaworthy. "
A fourth phase of the expansion would increase the entire site area to 350,000 square metres, with a large additional space available in Toowoomba. "(Airfield owner Wagners) The airport was built within 19 months, so the addition of some hard shelves for the storage of aircraft would not affect them at all. "
