The Asia-Pacific market was amongst the first ones in the world to experience the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The aviation industry in the area was no exception to this, and airlines like Korean Air or Singapore Airlines, amongst others, were one of the first airlines to reduce the number of routes they flew and ground their fleets.
After months of high parking fees in their respective hub airports and dealing with only a few profitable destinations, Asian airlines have sent their aircraft to desert airports for long term storage. One popular airport where airlines in the region usually send their planes to is Alice Springs Airport, in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The latest carrier to follow suit and fly its planes to the Australian airport has been Cebu Pacific, with base in Manila. The airline flew more than 9 aircraft, including A320 and A330 family jets to Alice Springs airport earlier this week. As the jets where transferred, a long parade was formed in the South-Asian sky, which started in the Philippines and cruised over Indonesia before ending in Australia.
Photo by Ernest Leung | AeroNewsX
At the Australian airport, Cebu Pacific’s aircraft will be joining Singapore Airlines’ fleet, which had been sent there a few months back. Amongst them, the airline’s A380s stand out. Additionally, the airport currently has a few Scoot Boeing 787s.
The now-bankrupt NokScoot has also sent its Boeing 777-200ERs to Alice Springs for storage. The seven units it has will be returned to Singapore Airlines with immediate effect after shareholders approved the dissolution and liquidation of the airline. However, it is unlikely the aircraft will ever fly again given the complexity of the situation the world is currently undergoing.
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