The Territory Government will inject a further $3.5 million in the Alice Springs Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage Maintenance Facility through the Local Jobs Fund – doubling the capacity of the facility and creating more local jobs.
Demand for the facility has increased dramatically due to the COVID-19 crisis, with international airlines looking to Alice Springs as the perfect place to store and maintain grounded aircrafts.
The injection of a further $3.5 million dollars extra for APAS – through a $3 million concessional loan and a $500,000 grant – will help double its capacity to store and service aircrafts.
The Local Jobs Fund investment will go towards stages two and three of the development of the facility, with stage two including civil works for storage roads and two new maintenance pads.
Stage 2 works will see the expansion of the existing APAS facility to immediately increase storage capacity from 24 aircrafts to between 50-70 aircrafts.
Due to an increase demand for storage and maintenance services from national and international airlines, APAS are also commencing stage three works.
Stage three which will see further expansion of the APAS facility to store and maintain approximately 100 aircraft.
The Territory Government already helped expand APAS earlier this year with a $1 million infrastructure grant, bringing their total funding from the Local Jobs Fund to $4.5 million, leveraging $4.5 million of private investment.
APAS has significantly expanded its Alice Springs-based workforce, with more than 50 locals already now employed in the carriage of aircraft storage and maintenance work.
This figure is expected to increase by a further 54 direct jobs over the next five years, and will inject $5.8 million into the Territory's economy with a further flow on effect of $5.2 million.
Alice Springs is geographically and environmentally suitable for the storage and maintenance of aircraft due to its ideal low humidity, arid climate and its proximity to the Asia-Pacific region.
As stated by Chief Minister Michael Gunner:
"This is great news for Alice Springs and great news for the Territory.
"Because we are the safest in the nation, we are well positioned to have the strongest comeback in the nation.
"The Territory can be Australia's comeback capital – and investments like this show Alice Springs is at the heart of our plans for the Territory's jobs-led recovery.
"APAS growing their facility shows how quickly the Northern Territory can adapt and create new jobs for locals.
"Throughout the coronavirus crisis, the Territory Government's top priorities have been saving lives and saving jobs.
"We will keep doing whatever takes to protect and create jobs, and we will always put the Territory first."
As stated by Minister for Central Australian Reconstruction, Dale Wakefield:
"Jobs are one of our biggest priorities. This project is supporting local jobs right now and will support a further 54 jobs in the next five years.
"This is a direct boost to the Territory's economy by $5.8 million – with a flow on effect of $5.2 million.
"We have a bright future in Alice Springs and I will keep fighting hard for major projects and events that will be game changers for our town and benefit our community."
