Alice Springs in the Northern Territory has been selected to be the first aircraft “boneyard” outside the United States.
It will take planes being decommissioned, or those temporarily being taken out of service.
Alice Springs Airport general manager Katie Cooper told AFP, “It will be the first one in the southern hemisphere of any significant scale. Our big market will be the Asia-Pacific carriers because of the proximity.”
Cooper said Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage Ltd (APAS) chose Alice Springs because its dry, arid climate was perfect for the storage and preservation of aircraft.
It also has a runway that can cater to big planes and room to expand.
“This project represents the first Asia-Pacific based alternative for customers with aircraft based, or operating through, the region,” said APAS managing director, Tom Vincent.
The first planes are expected to arrive early next year.
The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Arizona, “The Boneyard”, stores 4200 US military aircraft on a 1000-hectare site. The nearby Pinal Airpark provides storage for civilian aircraft.
A similar facility exists in California’s Mojave desert.
