There has been great excitement in the Northern Territory in recent days at the news that the first dedicated aircraft-storage facility in the southern hemisphere is to be built in the Red Centre.
The ‘boneyard’ – an area set aside for planes to be retired, stored, or destroyed for scrap – will be constructed at Alice Springs Airport. We are told the area set aside will be up to 100 hectares, with room for up to 300 planes, making it perhaps the second largest airport storage facility in the world.
All good stuff. Obviously, the dry climate of Central Australia – much like that in southwestern America – is ideal for aircraft storage as corrosion of the metal is minimised. There are, of course, a few aircraft ‘boneyards’ in the US including the 1,000 hectare Pinal Airbase facility in Arizona where more than 4,000 aircraft have been mothballed. These places, naturally enough attract plenty of curious tourists. It is indeed an eery site to see millions, if not billions of dollars worth of technology just wasting away in the desert sun. Depending on the sort of aircraft being stored, public access to these sites can be limited – but that doesn’t stop the people coming. At Mojave in California, for example, the streets in the airport are open to traffic, but the aircraft storage area is closed to the public. That isn’t too much of an issue since it is clearly visible from the main roads.
There is no doubt that many in The Alice are hoping the new aircraft storage facility will bring even more grey nomads to Central Australia to see these retired giants of the sky … but will it?
The new plane graveyard will be built to the south of the runway, and will include new taxiways as well as a dismantling pad. According to the Northern Territory News, the plans were signed this week in a deal between Alice Springs Airport and the Asia-Pacific Aircraft Storage company.
APAS managing director Tom Vincent said the facility’s birth was “an extremely exciting step”.
“While aircraft operators/owners have historically been forced to ferry aircraft to the west coast of the United States, APAS will now provide a local alternative,” he said, adding that Alice Springs offered a suitable climate, existing infrastructure and the capacity for major expansion.
He says development of the new facility is already under way and should be finished by the end of the year.
“Shortly thereafter we’d be expecting to see our first customers to arrive,” he said.
