Parking spots: Singapore Airlines stores airplanes in Australian desert, Alice Springs

Staff Writer
·Editorial team
Updated ·2-min read
A Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900 passenger plane takes off from Changi International Airport in Singapore on February 9, 2020. (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP) (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
A Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900 passenger plane takes off from Changi International Airport in Singapore on February 9, 2020. (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP) (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

What happens when you have a fleet of airplanes but nowhere to fly to? You store them in an Australian desert.

Some of Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) planes are being stored at Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage (APAS) near Alice Springs desert, in the Northern Territory of Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. APAS was opened in 2011 as an aircraft storage facility that caters for short, medium, and long term storage needs for the airline industry.

Some of SIA's biggest planes have landed in the Australian desert for storage during the COVID-19 outbreak, and this includes Singapore Airbus A380 superjumbos and Boeing 777s.

Parking spots

Photographer Steve Strike took photos of the airplanes stored in Alice Springs, which he estimates to be worth around billion of dollars.

He wrote on Facebook: “Billions of dollars worth of aircraft mothballed in the desert near Alice Springs.”

“I can't imagine the long term effects of this. I don't think anyone has any idea how travel in the world will be in the future," he added.

According to Traveller, SIA confirmed that four superjumbos and three 777-200ERs were parked at the facility.

“Of a group fleet of 200 aircraft, only 10 are currently operating on scheduled passenger services,” the spokesperson shared.

In an announcement on 20 April, SIA and SilkAir said on their website that both airlines will operate a reduced schedule of services in May 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As airlines worldwide floundered in the wake of plummeting travel demand, SIA had earlier on cut 96% of capacity through April, mirroring an announcement at Cathay Pacific Airways, as border controls were enforced across the world. SIA’s largest shareholder, Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, said it would underwrite the airline’s move to raise S$15 billion in funds by issuing new shares and bonds. SIA also took a S$4 billion loan from DBS bank. Eighteen employees from the SIA group of companies have been reported to be infected with the COVID-19 virus.

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