An amphibious aircraft company the Fyles Government invested $10 million in that they claim will be a key driver of the NT’s economy in the coming years will truck up a 60-year-old plane from Victoria to house at an old hangar at the Darwin Airport, raising questions about the previously proposed Darwin Aerospace Manufacturing Precinct.

In March, the government announced the new Aerospace Manufacturing Precinct would be built at the airport anchored by Amphibian Aerospace Industries (AAI), which would reportedly “build an upgraded version” of an old amphibious aircraft from the 1950s and in turn “provide new manufacturing jobs and opportunities for Territorians to upskill in a growing aviation industry” with AAI alone creating 300 jobs and contributing $100 million a year into the economy.

However, on Monday, AAI announced it had signed a 10-year lease on the old Care Flight hangar at the airport where it will restore one old plane it purchased in 2016 that has not been in the air since.

Airport Development Group general manager Ross Baynes did not respond to direct questions about whether AAI’s 10-year lease would delay or end the development of the proposed Aerospace Manufacturing Precinct, but said the group was working on developing “an aviation precinct” with “a number of stakeholders”.

AAI, which the NT Government gave $10 million of taxpayer funds to last year, meanwhile said it was hiring engineers to restore the Albatross G-111 at the hangar after the aircraft is brought up from Victoria via road train later this month.

The NT Independent understands the specific plane AAI is moving to Darwin was originally built in 1961 for the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force as the last of 466 Albatross aircraft built between 1947 and 1961. It was last in the air in December 2016 when it was flown from Perth to Avalon, Victoria.

AAI chief executive Dan Webster did not respond to questions, including what the company has been doing with the plane in a hangar in Victoria since 2016.

He also would not say why the company signed a 10-year lease for the old hangar or if the proposed aerospace precinct would proceed now.

The Albatross G-111 that AAI is moving to Darwin as it was in the 1980s. (PHOTO: AviationWA)

Mr Webster and Amphibian Aircraft Holdings chairman Khoa Hoang told the NT News they would first be restoring the old plane and implied the company was looking to replace the original engine with a turbo-prop engine designed by Pratt and Whitney.

However, it was unclear if and when manufacturing of new aircrafts would commence.

“The next milestone for us is getting the aircraft out of Avalon to Darwin, get in the hangar and secure it for Christmas,” Mr Webster said. “Restoration should take about 12 months and the modifications will begin after restoration.”

“This is another step towards getting the Albatross back in the skies and us manufacturing the aircraft in Darwin,” Mr Hoang told the paper.

“This will be a significant project for Darwin and the Northern Territory and deliver spin-offs for the entire Northern Territory economy.”

AAI promised similar project in NSW in 2016, but deal fell through

In 2016, AAI promised a similar $100 million job-creating aerospace industry on the NSW Central Coast, after it signed a deal to relocate its non-existent operations in the United States to the Central Coast Airport at Warnervale. It was suggested at the time that manufacturing of the amphibious planes there would create 240 direct jobs.

But that deal fell through for unknown reasons in 2020, shortly before Mr Webster took on the role of AAI’s CEO, while transitioning from his role with Elbit Systems of Australia.

(L-R) NT Investment Commissioner Andy Cowan with AAI CEO Dan Webster and Brent Potter in Japan in July.

Former fifth floor staffer and current Member for Fannie Bay Brent Potter deleted his LinkedIn page ahead of the by-election in August that the NT Independent revealed had showed he had worked with Mr Webster at Elbit Systems, shortly before becoming an adviser for Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison. It was in this role that Mr Potter helped secure the $10 million in public funds for AAI.

The NT Independent also revealed at the time that Mr Potter and NT Investment Commissioner Andy Cowan flew to Asian countries earlier this year to secure funding for AAI and other supply contracts.

However, last week the Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet refused to provide the public with the costs of those trips, who the men met with and for what purposes. The government said providing the costs and itineraries of the taxpayer-funded trips through FOI laws would be an “unreasonable interference” with the operations of the department.

Unfounded claims of interest in planes from Hollywood celebrities

The NT News also ran an unfounded story in August that the stars of Ocean’s Eleven – Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon – were all interested in purchasing the aircraft although no evidence was provided for that assertion.

The same month, Australian businessman and Shark Tank television star Steve Baxter put in the first purchase order for an Albatross plane, expected then to be in late 2026.

The NT News also reported the seaplanes would sell for US$20 million each and were in “very high demand” despite not being built since 1961.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the claims of Hollywood stars looking to buy the planes was “an exciting story” and claimed AAI would put $100 million a year into the NT’s economy by the end of the decade, but did not provide figures for how that figure was calculated.

The NT News also claimed its readers had identified AAI as the largest single future contributor to the NT’s economy, ahead of the $1.5 billion Middle Arm Manufacturing Precinct, the Beetaloo Basin and multiple rare earths mining projects.