News & Discussion: Adelaide Airport & Airlines

[Ho Really]

[...]

This doesn't bode well for anyone (i.e. Qantas) starting an Adelaide - Singapore service anytime soon, especially when SIA are increasing to 2 x daily permanently next year.

From 27 OCT SIA will be operating SQ276/SQ277 thrice weekly (SUN, WED and FRI) not daily. You can check their schedule up to January 2025.

[...] SIA has been pretty good for Adelaide internationally.

Another good reason to support them.

Cheers

[Saltwater]

Sorry, my comment on SIA moving to x 2 daily was from this October onwards, when my understanding is the normal summer increase remains in place beyond March next year and becomes permanent

[Ho Really]

Saltwater, my bad, it should say January 2025 not March 2024. I've corrected it. So it still will be thrice weekly unless they decide to go to four, five or daily for SQ276/SQ277 after January 2025.

Cheers

[rev]

$70m Adelaide Airport runway upgrade update as part of $1bn pipeline of improvements

A $70m upgrade of Adelaide Airport’s main runway is past the halfway mark – the first project in a $1bn pipeline of improvements.
Brad Crouch and Giuseppe Tauriello
5 min read
March 10, 2024 - 12:59PM

A $70m upgrade of Adelaide Airport’s main runway is past the halfway mark – the first project in a $1bn pipeline of developments designed to improve the safety and travel experience for thousands of passengers who pass through the precinct each day.

Since October, dozens of workers have been working through each night – during the airport’s curfew from 11pm to 6am – to gradually remove and then resurface sections of the main 3.1km runway and taxiways.

The resurfacing requires significantly more asphalt than the amount used to reseal roads, with more than 60,000 tonnes required to cover 413,000sq m of runway and taxiways – the same amount of asphalt that would be used to reseal a 40km stretch of road.

Every 57mm a groove is cut into the runway surface to improve the surface texture.

Runway lights, last installed in 1994, were also replaced in December with more efficient LED lighting.



Adelaide Airport managing director Brenton Cox said runway resurfacing was required every 10-15 years, and the current upgrade was on track to be completed by August.

“Every night at the moment we’re closing the main runway during the curfew and we’re undertaking a massive re-sheet – it’s something we have to do every 10 years to replace the integrity of our runway system,” he said.
“It’s expensive and time consuming and there’s a lot of risk to manage.”

During the resurfacing work, the airport’s cross runway, running southeast to northwest, is being used for the small number of freight and emergency aircraft that are allowed to operate during the airport curfew.

The project kicks off a $1bn pipeline of investment – described as the airport’s “single biggest ever capital investment program” – earmarked for the wider airport precinct over the next five years.

Mr Cox said more than $300m would be spent on terminal-related projects over the next four years, starting with security upgrades later this year, followed by expansions of the terminal to the north and south, to cater for forecast demand increases.

“If you look at our Network Vision, we have to expand our airport to be able to accommodate all of that, and in the next five years we have a high degree of confidence of the growth that we expect to see,” he said.

“We have to roll out the infrastructure that’s required to accommodate that growth so that we can keep being known for our brand – being seamless, connected and easy.”

A $500m investment in aviation infrastructure projects over the next five years also includes an expanded check-in hall, a second kerb-side pick-up and drop-off lane and more space for aircraft parking.

A new ground-level car park for medium-term parking between the existing multistorey car park and the Bunnings and Ikea stores is also expected to open later this year.

Another $500m will go towards property developments across the wider airport precinct, including a freight and logistics hub east of the main runway.

Post-Covid boom as exports take flight

The sky’s the limit when it comes to freight opportunities exported from Adelaide Airport as the bounce back from the Covid shutdowns continues.

From fish swim bladders to live lobsters, chilled kingfish and premium lamb heading for dinner tables across the globe, the world is SA’s export oyster – oh, and oysters are exported too.

Freight logistics firm Airway is SA’s licenced and registered export handler of perishable goods.

Spokesman Adam Wright said the company has seen strong growth in outgoing freight as airlines return to Adelaide, with export destinations led by Singapore, the US and Hong Kong.

“We do a lot of kingfish, lamb carcasses, boxed meats, dairy, mussels, oysters, lobsters, abalone, some pippis – there is a lot of demand,” he said.

“It has definitely improved since the worst of Covid, a lot more carriers coming to Adelaide means an increase in space, so more opportunities for the volumes we produce in SA.”

Airway also assists with transport of pets in aeroplane cargo holds.

The return of daily flights by Emirates from October includes capacity for 14 tonnes of cargo per flight, totalling 196 tonnes weekly between Dubai and Adelaide with an estimated value of $98m per year.

Last year FedEx Express which operates 25 weekly cargo flights in and out of Adelaide Airport opened significantly large facilities.

Peter Langley, vice president, FedEx Express Australasia said: “The enhanced capabilities of the new facility will benefit local businesses looking to tap into the international marketplace and support the growing demand for e-commerce in the South Australia region.”

Adelaide Airport’s masterplan aims for overall freight exports of 146,000 tonnes by 2039, partly by stopping “leakage” where SA export go via Melbourne or Sydney due to lack of cargo capacity.

This plan also projects an increase in passenger movements from 8.5 million to 19.8 million, associated jobs growth from 22,810 to 56,178 and economic contribution from $2.9bn to $7.4bn.

Adelaide Airport managing director Brenton Cox said South Australia is known for having fresh, clean, green and high quality produce.

“I think now as borders have reopened, and people have started to reconnect into different markets, some of those markets emerging with the propensity to pay are very keen for product and quality that’s coming out of South Australia,” he said.

“Lamb, kingfish, mussels, oysters and the like are some of the biggest movers through our cold stores at Adelaide Airport.”

Mr Cox noted freight moving direct from Adelaide has suffered with the lack of international wide body passenger flights.

“Over 90 per cent of airfreight is travelling in the belly of passenger aircraft, and freight of any significant volume has to travel in those wide body aircraft,” he said.

“Without Emirates, China Southern and Cathay we’re relying on Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore to be doing the heavy lifting on freight out of Adelaide. So that’s meant a lot of our exporters have to put freight in trucks and send them to Sydney and Melbourne.

“We call it leakage, when goods from a South Australian exporter have to go out of an airport that’s not Adelaide Airport.”

Covid’s hangover means last year 70 per cent of South Australian exporters were accessing overseas markets out of interstate airports, mainly Sydney and Melbourne, up from 41 per cent pre-Covid.

“So they’re having to put goods on trucks, send them to Sydney and Melbourne and ship it off,” Mr Cox said.

“Only 30 per cent of international airfreight exports is coming out of Adelaide Airport for South Australian exporters.

“That’s clearly a dynamic we at least want to start to shift back to the pre-Covid levels, and getting China Southern, Cathay, Emirates back in the sky will really help turn the dial on that.

“Ultimately what exporters want is good value, timeliness and reliability – the last thing that you want, particularly for perishable goods, to be lying around in an airport.”

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou ... 541e801655

[mattblack]

$70m Adelaide Airport runway upgrade update as part of $1bn pipeline of improvements

A $70m upgrade of Adelaide Airport’s main runway is past the halfway mark – the first project in a $1bn pipeline of improvements.
Brad Crouch and Giuseppe Tauriello
5 min read
March 10, 2024 - 12:59PM

A $70m upgrade of Adelaide Airport’s main runway is past the halfway mark – the first project in a $1bn pipeline of developments designed to improve the safety and travel experience for thousands of passengers who pass through the precinct each day.

Since October, dozens of workers have been working through each night – during the airport’s curfew from 11pm to 6am – to gradually remove and then resurface sections of the main 3.1km runway and taxiways.

The resurfacing requires significantly more asphalt than the amount used to reseal roads, with more than 60,000 tonnes required to cover 413,000sq m of runway and taxiways – the same amount of asphalt that would be used to reseal a 40km stretch of road.

Every 57mm a groove is cut into the runway surface to improve the surface texture.

Runway lights, last installed in 1994, were also replaced in December with more efficient LED lighting.



Adelaide Airport managing director Brenton Cox said runway resurfacing was required every 10-15 years, and the current upgrade was on track to be completed by August.

“Every night at the moment we’re closing the main runway during the curfew and we’re undertaking a massive re-sheet – it’s something we have to do every 10 years to replace the integrity of our runway system,” he said.
“It’s expensive and time consuming and there’s a lot of risk to manage.”

During the resurfacing work, the airport’s cross runway, running southeast to northwest, is being used for the small number of freight and emergency aircraft that are allowed to operate during the airport curfew.

The project kicks off a $1bn pipeline of investment – described as the airport’s “single biggest ever capital investment program” – earmarked for the wider airport precinct over the next five years.

Mr Cox said more than $300m would be spent on terminal-related projects over the next four years, starting with security upgrades later this year, followed by expansions of the terminal to the north and south, to cater for forecast demand increases.

“If you look at our Network Vision, we have to expand our airport to be able to accommodate all of that, and in the next five years we have a high degree of confidence of the growth that we expect to see,” he said.

“We have to roll out the infrastructure that’s required to accommodate that growth so that we can keep being known for our brand – being seamless, connected and easy.”

A $500m investment in aviation infrastructure projects over the next five years also includes an expanded check-in hall, a second kerb-side pick-up and drop-off lane and more space for aircraft parking.

A new ground-level car park for medium-term parking between the existing multistorey car park and the Bunnings and Ikea stores is also expected to open later this year.

Another $500m will go towards property developments across the wider airport precinct, including a freight and logistics hub east of the main runway.

Post-Covid boom as exports take flight

The sky’s the limit when it comes to freight opportunities exported from Adelaide Airport as the bounce back from the Covid shutdowns continues.

From fish swim bladders to live lobsters, chilled kingfish and premium lamb heading for dinner tables across the globe, the world is SA’s export oyster – oh, and oysters are exported too.

Freight logistics firm Airway is SA’s licenced and registered export handler of perishable goods.

Spokesman Adam Wright said the company has seen strong growth in outgoing freight as airlines return to Adelaide, with export destinations led by Singapore, the US and Hong Kong.

“We do a lot of kingfish, lamb carcasses, boxed meats, dairy, mussels, oysters, lobsters, abalone, some pippis – there is a lot of demand,” he said.

“It has definitely improved since the worst of Covid, a lot more carriers coming to Adelaide means an increase in space, so more opportunities for the volumes we produce in SA.”

Airway also assists with transport of pets in aeroplane cargo holds.

The return of daily flights by Emirates from October includes capacity for 14 tonnes of cargo per flight, totalling 196 tonnes weekly between Dubai and Adelaide with an estimated value of $98m per year.

Last year FedEx Express which operates 25 weekly cargo flights in and out of Adelaide Airport opened significantly large facilities.

Peter Langley, vice president, FedEx Express Australasia said: “The enhanced capabilities of the new facility will benefit local businesses looking to tap into the international marketplace and support the growing demand for e-commerce in the South Australia region.”

Adelaide Airport’s masterplan aims for overall freight exports of 146,000 tonnes by 2039, partly by stopping “leakage” where SA export go via Melbourne or Sydney due to lack of cargo capacity.

11111.jpg

This plan also projects an increase in passenger movements from 8.5 million to 19.8 million, associated jobs growth from 22,810 to 56,178 and economic contribution from $2.9bn to $7.4bn.

Adelaide Airport managing director Brenton Cox said South Australia is known for having fresh, clean, green and high quality produce.

“I think now as borders have reopened, and people have started to reconnect into different markets, some of those markets emerging with the propensity to pay are very keen for product and quality that’s coming out of South Australia,” he said.

“Lamb, kingfish, mussels, oysters and the like are some of the biggest movers through our cold stores at Adelaide Airport.”

Mr Cox noted freight moving direct from Adelaide has suffered with the lack of international wide body passenger flights.

“Over 90 per cent of airfreight is travelling in the belly of passenger aircraft, and freight of any significant volume has to travel in those wide body aircraft,” he said.

“Without Emirates, China Southern and Cathay we’re relying on Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore to be doing the heavy lifting on freight out of Adelaide. So that’s meant a lot of our exporters have to put freight in trucks and send them to Sydney and Melbourne.

“We call it leakage, when goods from a South Australian exporter have to go out of an airport that’s not Adelaide Airport.”

Covid’s hangover means last year 70 per cent of South Australian exporters were accessing overseas markets out of interstate airports, mainly Sydney and Melbourne, up from 41 per cent pre-Covid.

“So they’re having to put goods on trucks, send them to Sydney and Melbourne and ship it off,” Mr Cox said.

“Only 30 per cent of international airfreight exports is coming out of Adelaide Airport for South Australian exporters.

“That’s clearly a dynamic we at least want to start to shift back to the pre-Covid levels, and getting China Southern, Cathay, Emirates back in the sky will really help turn the dial on that.

“Ultimately what exporters want is good value, timeliness and reliability – the last thing that you want, particularly for perishable goods, to be lying around in an airport.”

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou ... 541e801655

Very exciting vision. Guess this is why the government is so keen to lure those internations back including China Southern at the top of the list, especially if those sanctions get lifted.

[Ho Really]

There's some good news for those hoping to see Cathay Pacific back in Adelaide in the not too distant future. The airline has just reported its highest annual profit since 2010, HK$9.8bn (US$1.3bn), breaking a three-year streak of losses including a HK$6.6bn loss in 2022. This all due to strong flights demand.

Cathay is working towards reaching 100 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger capacity within the first quarter of 2025. The original goal was to achieve full capacity by the end of this year. What's restraining Cathay currently is the lack of pilots, many having left during the COVID years. Hopefully a recruitment drive to take place over the next few months in Europe and the Middle East can set this straight. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a return sometime in early 2025.

Cheers

[abc]

I was at the airport the other day. I'm not a fan of the cashless carparking. In fact that should be illegal to not accept cash.

[muzzamo]

Vietjet flights were launched as return (via Perth) flights on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Looking a few months into the future they are now bookable only on Saturday and Tuesday out of Adelaide, although the 5x a week flights from Perth remain.

I flew Vietjet in January and it was great, but the tag flight from Adelaide to Perth had only 20-30 people in it, and both the flight staff and the lounge staff said that was fairly typical. This meant the 3 hours from Adelaide to Perth was fantastic, everyone had a row each. Also, the ticketing system only made exit row seats bookable for people flying out of Adelaide (not Perth), so they were really easy to book and had lots of availability.

Almost empty flight out of Adelaide, and an exit row seat perth-HCMC, at a budget price. Couldn't go wrong.

Shame that they have decreased the frequency though as twice weekly is really limiting. If you need specific days you might fly Vietnam Airlines connecting through Syd/Mel instead, or Singapore Airlines.

[Pistol]

Vietjet flights were launched as return (via Perth) flights on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Looking a few months into the future they are now bookable only on Saturday and Tuesday out of Adelaide, although the 5x a week flights from Perth remain.

I flew Vietjet in January and it was great, but the tag flight from Adelaide to Perth had only 20-30 people in it, and both the flight staff and the lounge staff said that was fairly typical. This meant the 3 hours from Adelaide to Perth was fantastic, everyone had a row each. Also, the ticketing system only made exit row seats bookable for people flying out of Adelaide (not Perth), so they were really easy to book and had lots of availability.

Almost empty flight out of Adelaide, and an exit row seat perth-HCMC, at a budget price. Couldn't go wrong.

Shame that they have decreased the frequency though as twice weekly is really limiting. If you need specific days you might fly Vietnam Airlines connecting through Syd/Mel instead, or Singapore Airlines.

Am wondering if the ticketing is 'first in, best dressed' allocation between Perth and Adelaide or whether they allocate a portion of the plane?
I tried to find flights a while back and couldn't find any flights that wasn't sold out.

This is sad news because I was really hopeful that this would be well served resulting in a direct ADL-HCMC flight but will have to continue to fly ADL-SYD-HAN instead

[dbl96]

Interesting statistics - though a little-bit outdated (pre-covid):

Top 10 cities without regular direct flights from Adelaide, listed in order of point-to-point passenger numbers in 2018:
1. London
2. Delhi
3. Christchurch
4. Ho Chi Minh
5. Los Angeles
6. Tokyo
7. Phuket
8. Shanghai
9. Beijing
10. Bangkok

So there is clearly demand for direct travel to Vietnam. If VietJet are struggling to fill the planes, it is probably because of the inconvenience of the detour via Perth.

London and Delhi are harder targets despite topping the table. In the case of London, it would require Qantas to operate one of their super long-haul flights out of Adelaide, which they clearly have no intention of doing. Direct flights in general out of India are simply not very developed - with most passenger flows through hubs like Singapore and Dubai. Singapore Airlines and the gulf carriers have benefited immensely from this arrangement, and direct flights would probably seriously reduce the demand for their flights into Adelaide.

It is interesting that when people talk about potential future international connections out of Adelaide, Tokyo and Los Angeles come up a lot, but not Shanghai or Phuket - despite all four cities having very similar levels of demand. I suspect it would be easier to get Shanghai or Phuket flights going than flights to Los Angeles. The proximity is surely helpful. In the case of Phuket, demand would probably escalate pretty quickly once direct flights were in place - it would become an easily accessible leisure destination like Bali is. There is insufficient (currently non-existant) direct air freight capacity between Adelaide and China, despite high demand, so that would help with Shanghai flights. If China Eastern added Adelaide to its global network (from its hub in Shanghai) we could also expect downward pressure on Adelaide-Europe flight prices.

https://infogram.com/adl-traffic-foreca ... y9xzkdx6km

[SBD]

I'm intrigued about exactly ONE direct passenger to Ho Chi Minh City....

I wonder how the "indirect" number is derived. Los Angeles is the on;y North American city on the list - do people really go there as the destination, or do they lly Qantas or Virgin Adelaide-Sydney-Los Angeles then switch to a different airline for the next hop to Toronto/Vancouver/New York/somewhere else but get counted at Los Angeles due to a change of airline? Maybe there are enough other airports/cities that no single one beats 18,440 to get in to this list so they are all group in "Others".

[Saltwater]

As someone with family in the South Island of NZ the one on this list that really annoys me is the lack of direct connection to Christchurch. Air NZ, Virgin or Qantas could do it easily with a new A320 or 737 if they wanted to, and a direct flight would turn a direct trip between Adelaide and Christchurch from about 7-8 hours including transit in Sydney, Melbourne or Auckland to closer to 4. There has been talk about it previously, but with the shortage of planes across all airlines unfortunately I don't see it happening anytime soon.

[AG]

As someone with family in the South Island of NZ the one on this list that really annoys me is the lack of direct connection to Christchurch. Air NZ, Virgin or Qantas could do it easily with a new A320 or 737 if they wanted to, and a direct flight would turn a direct trip between Adelaide and Christchurch from about 7-8 hours including transit in Sydney, Melbourne or Auckland to closer to 4. There has been talk about it previously, but with the shortage of planes across all airlines unfortunately I don't see it happening anytime soon.

The new Airbus A220 planes are probably the closest plane that would be economical to fly Adelaide-Christchurch. The new A220s that Qantas are currently getting delivered have 137 seats rather than the 174 on the Boeing 737-800s, and they definitely have the range to fly the distance.

[rev]

As someone with family in the South Island of NZ the one on this list that really annoys me is the lack of direct connection to Christchurch. Air NZ, Virgin or Qantas could do it easily with a new A320 or 737 if they wanted to, and a direct flight would turn a direct trip between Adelaide and Christchurch from about 7-8 hours including transit in Sydney, Melbourne or Auckland to closer to 4. There has been talk about it previously, but with the shortage of planes across all airlines unfortunately I don't see it happening anytime soon.

The new Airbus A220 planes are probably the closest plane that would be economical to fly Adelaide-Christchurch. The new A220s that Qantas are currently getting delivered have 137 seats rather than the 174 on the Boeing 737-800s, and they definitely have the range to fly the distance.

Economical as in fuel consumption/maintenance costs?
Would having 40~ less seats to sell on a route make it less economical?

[dbl96]

I'm intrigued about exactly ONE direct passenger to Ho Chi Minh City....

I wonder how the "indirect" number is derived. Los Angeles is the on;y North American city on the list - do people really go there as the destination, or do they lly Qantas or Virgin Adelaide-Sydney-Los Angeles then switch to a different airline for the next hop to Toronto/Vancouver/New York/somewhere else but get counted at Los Angeles due to a change of airline? Maybe there are enough other airports/cities that no single one beats 18,440 to get in to this list so they are all group in "Others".

Yes, I think you are right and the "indirect" figure must be through-booked flights with the "indirect" destination as the final destination. So, for example, you would be picked up in the statistics if you booked a single ticket with Qantas ADL-LAX which requires a change of planes in Sydney, but not if you first flew to Sydney on Jetstar, or drove there and then boarded a SYD-LAX flight. And I don't think you would be picked up in the LAX statistics if you booked a through ticket from Adelaide to another city in the US transiting in Los Angeles.

I don't think it is particularly unexpected that other North American cities don't rank higher in the table (although New York's absence is a little bit surprising). I suspect most traffic in and out of Australia falls into two categories:

• 1. Migration associated travel (migrants arriving, travelling home for visits, receiving visits from home) - primary destinations in the Indian subcontinent, Europe, China and elsewhere in Asia.
  2. Leisure travel - primary destinations in Europe and SE Asia, with North America probably a distant third.

North America occupies a prominent place in everyone's consciousness, especially for the Anglo middle classes, but I don't think people actually travel there in anywhere near the volumes as people do to places they have family connections to (eg. Europe and Asia). Part of that is because of the distance and cost.

That said, I am sure you are right that there are substantial volumes of travelers dispersed across many destinations in North America which don't individually rank high enough to appear in the table.

I think this would be true for the migration source destinations as well though. I'm sure there is heaps of traffic passing through Singapore/Malaysia or the Gulf ports and then on to various secondary airports in India. Likewise, a lot of the traffic to China goes to dispersed secondary destinations via Sydney, which has direct connections to 18 cities in mainland China.

I'm a bit more surprised that there aren't more European destinations in the list - Paris in particularly is surprising in its absence.