An aircraft storage facility in Central Australia is now so full that its owners have had to seek out more space.
Many carriers haven’t had enough passengers to justify flying during the pandemic, and have opted to store their planes.
Asia Pacific Airline Storage is storing 94 planes at Alice Springs, and will store more in Southeast Queensland.
Analysts say it’s a sign of how difficult conditions have become for airlines.
Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific as well as their subsidiaries are storing planes in Alice Springs, as are Fiji Air and Cebu Pacific.
Asia Pacific Airline Storage (APAS) has an additional sixteen slots on site, but they are already booked with existing customers.
The site has become a local landmark in the remote town of about 25,000 people.
The company has plans to expand the facility from its current 110 slots to accommodate 160-200 aircraft.
Until the expansion is ready, APAS needs to find extra space elsewhere.
“To manage some additional storage requirements we’ve started to store some aircraft at Wellcamp in Toowoomba,” Tom Vincent, the company’s managing director, told the BBC.
At the moment, there are only two planes at the new facility in Southeast Queensland, but more are due to arrive this week.
