News & Discussion: Adelaide Airport & Airlines

[rev]

The airport is currently at 923,732 international passengers per year, as at March 2024. Still a bit of work to go to get back over the million mark we had before the pandemic.

Domestic traffic is at 6,711,094 annual passengers as at March 2024, also very close to the pre-pandemic number of 7,306,666.

I get the international is down can be put down to not all airlines/routes have returned, but domestic too? Surely all pre-pandemic flights are back by now?

[abc]

Thread cleaned up. Keep the conversation on topic.

The airport is currently at 923,732 international passengers per year, as at March 2024. Still a bit of work to go to get back over the million mark we had before the pandemic.

Domestic traffic is at 6,711,094 annual passengers as at March 2024, also very close to the pre-pandemic number of 7,306,666.

why don't you clean up Viny's garbage?

seems to be some bias here

[VinyTapestry849]

The airport is currently at 923,732 international passengers per year, as at March 2024. Still a bit of work to go to get back over the million mark we had before the pandemic.

Domestic traffic is at 6,711,094 annual passengers as at March 2024, also very close to the pre-pandemic number of 7,306,666.

I get the international is down can be put down to not all airlines/routes have returned, but domestic too? Surely all pre-pandemic flights are back by now?

There was a real explosion in traffic from china when china southern arrived in late 2016 for example. With airlines and airports, it really is a "build the connection and they will follow" moment.

So yeah we can't expect full international travel back until our other airlines come back and reconnect us.

[Norman]

The airport is currently at 923,732 international passengers per year, as at March 2024. Still a bit of work to go to get back over the million mark we had before the pandemic.
Domestic traffic is at 6,711,094 annual passengers as at March 2024, also very close to the pre-pandemic number of 7,306,666.

I get the international is down can be put down to not all airlines/routes have returned, but domestic too? Surely all pre-pandemic flights are back by now?

A lot has happened since the pandemic finished up. Cost of living is higher, so there isn't as much available money for holidays. Airlines are still struggling for crews to service the flights. Travel in general has become more expensive.

I'll see if I can play with some of the data to get a better picture of where traffic is down (and even where it's up).

[dbl96]

Pretty big demand on the Adelaide-Delhi route. I wonder if direct flights on that route might be something we could realistically pursue now that Air India has switched to a strategy of trying to build Delhi into a Gulf-style global transfer hub.

...and this is my point

makes far more sense than direct to LAX

Why not both though? They are completely distinct markets.

Currently India would be a major source of demand on Singapore, Malalysia and Qatar airlines flights out of Adelaide (and Emirates once it restarts). I wonder how direct flights to Delhi would affect the viability of some of those routes linking Adelaide to the Persian Gulf and Malacca Straits hubs.

During Covid, Qantas flew Sydney/Melbourne - Adelaide - Delhi. From all accounts the flights were full, but it was only ever meant to be a trial for transitioning to direct Qantas flights from Sydney and Melbourne. So Adelaide got cut out. Typical Qantas. I think the main reason anyone in Adelaide remains loyal to them is basically because they've got Qantas points from domestic flights etc. We are an afterthought for them.

In any event, foreign airlines are still quite restricted in getting slots to land in India. So I think our best chance of getting direct flights there would be with Air India or one of the other Indian airlines. Qantas will want to use all of their limited number of slots on serving Sydney and Melbourne.

It will be interesting to compare all these figures about the biggest unserved destinations once the numbers stabilise a bit and the post-Covid state of affairs becomes clear. At this stage we are still running off the state of affairs from 2019.

[Ho Really]

A lot has happened since the pandemic finished up. Cost of living is higher, so there isn't as much available money for holidays. Airlines are still struggling for crews to service the flights. Travel in general has become more expensive.

All those and slow deliveries of aircraft in particular Boeing. Not to mention the Aussie dollar struggling to gain on currencies where people travel the most: Europe, UK, USA and Singapore. Korea is good and Japan is excellent at the moment. If only we had a direct flight to Japan now it would be booming.

I'll see if I can play with some of the data to get a better picture of where traffic is down (and even where it's up).

Please do.

Cheers

[Ho Really]

Pretty big demand on the Adelaide-Delhi route. I wonder if direct flights on that route might be something we could realistically pursue now that Air India has switched to a strategy of trying to build Delhi into a Gulf-style global transfer hub.

The potential has always been there for India to be the stepping stone to Europe. Problem is lack of quality. Air India is only now trying to improve thanks to Tata Brothers and SIA. But it will take time. Airports too have to pick up their game. The ME3 have the advantage and it won't be relinquished easily. Should Emirates become a Star Alliance member that too will make it harder for Air India. Air India should first look at serving their expats and together with their Ministry of Tourism expand tourism to India, a destination with huge potential.

[...]

Currently India would be a major source of demand on Singapore, Malalysia and Qatar airlines flights out of Adelaide (and Emirates once it restarts). I wonder how direct flights to Delhi would affect the viability of some of those routes linking Adelaide to the Persian Gulf and Malacca Straits hubs.

Most Indians will fly Singapore Airlines first then Malaysia AIrlines and to a lesser extent the others you mentioned. Should there be a direct Air India flight ADL-DEL or even ADL-BOM you'd see (and I am guessing as I don't have the figures) a drop of pax numbers of probably 10%-15% for Singapore and Malaysia Airlines. Between their hubs and Indian ports there is still good numbers of Indians travelling either for work, family reunions or tourism.

[...]

In any event, foreign airlines are still quite restricted in getting slots to land in India. So I think our best chance of getting direct flights there would be with Air India or one of the other Indian airlines. Qantas will want to use all of their limited number of slots on serving Sydney and Melbourne.

[...]

Only other airline would be IndiGo that is slowly expanding but it would take them a few years. Vistara is a non starter as they are part of Air India now.

Cheers

[VinyTapestry849]

Currently India would be a major source of demand on Singapore, Malalysia and Qatar airlines flights out of Adelaide (and Emirates once it restarts). I wonder how direct flights to Delhi would affect the viability of some of those routes linking Adelaide to the Persian Gulf and Malacca Straits hubs.

Those airlines would be affected, but I can assure you they wouldn't leave. We have an extremely strong market to Europe. I want to emphasize the 'extreme'. if you exclude Bali, London was nearly 50% of the international traffic out of Adelaide. Particularly London/Manchester/Glasgow/

If qantas were ever to do a ADL-LHR direct service, then I'd have serious concerns for our other airlines

However, Malaysia airlines is the most vulnerable carrier we have in Adelaide.

Adelaide Airport had to turn down Air Asia X several times in order to stop Malaysia from being forced to leave. I would have concerns to Malaysia airlines if a direct India service materialised, but Malaysia will find a way to work around it, for sure!

I love Malaysia honestly, they're so cheap and have decent economy and food. If you book in advance Its just $850 for a round-trip return to delhi. I'd love direct services but malyasia offer a really good deal right now.

[rev]

A lot has happened since the pandemic finished up. Cost of living is higher, so there isn't as much available money for holidays. Airlines are still struggling for crews to service the flights. Travel in general has become more expensive.

All those and slow deliveries of aircraft in particular Boeing. Not to mention the Aussie dollar struggling to gain on currencies where people travel the most: Europe, UK, USA and Singapore. Korea is good and Japan is excellent at the moment. If only we had a direct flight to Japan now it would be booming.

I'll see if I can play with some of the data to get a better picture of where traffic is down (and even where it's up).

Please do.

Cheers

Ive long said a direct flight to Tokyo would be a big win.
That along with the US.
Government needs to help get these done, imho there's a lot to gain for our state more so then any other connections.

[VinyTapestry849]

A lot has happened since the pandemic finished up. Cost of living is higher, so there isn't as much available money for holidays. Airlines are still struggling for crews to service the flights. Travel in general has become more expensive.

All those and slow deliveries of aircraft in particular Boeing. Not to mention the Aussie dollar struggling to gain on currencies where people travel the most: Europe, UK, USA and Singapore. Korea is good and Japan is excellent at the moment. If only we had a direct flight to Japan now it would be booming.

I'll see if I can play with some of the data to get a better picture of where traffic is down (and even where it's up).

Please do.

Cheers

Ive long said a direct flight to Tokyo would be a big win.
That along with the US.
Government needs to help get these done, imho there's a lot to gain for our state more so then any other connections.

The premier went to japan last year and lobbied for it. Japan airlines declined.

[rev]

All those and slow deliveries of aircraft in particular Boeing. Not to mention the Aussie dollar struggling to gain on currencies where people travel the most: Europe, UK, USA and Singapore. Korea is good and Japan is excellent at the moment. If only we had a direct flight to Japan now it would be booming.



Please do.

Cheers

Ive long said a direct flight to Tokyo would be a big win.
That along with the US.
Government needs to help get these done, imho there's a lot to gain for our state more so then any other connections.

The premier went to japan last year and lobbied for it. Japan airlines declined.

Well, there's two options, JAL and ANA.

[Ho Really]

[...]

If qantas were ever to do a ADL-LHR direct service, then I'd have serious concerns for our other airlines

This would be the first most logical international service If QANTAS comes back. Direct. But I wouldn't fear the others losing too much. They'll compete on price.

However, Malaysia airlines is the most vulnerable carrier we have in Adelaide.

They are the weakest of the current international airlines but they do work well with Turkish even though they are not of the same alliance.

Adelaide Airport had to turn down Air Asia X several times in order to stop Malaysia from being forced to leave. I would have concerns to Malaysia airlines if a direct India service materialised, but Malaysia will find a way to work around it, for sure!

I love Malaysia honestly, they're so cheap and have decent economy and food. If you book in advance Its just $850 for a round-trip return to delhi. I'd love direct services but malyasia offer a really good deal right now.

Only if Air India comes in with competitive fares and undercuts Malaysia. But I still think Air India are a few years away though. Like I said they need to get their house in order first. Only then they can take on the ME3 as a hub to Europe and Malaysia Airlines. Air India would not just want to fly expats and a few tourists from ADL, why not the whole hog? The other issue here is what influence does SIA have with its 25% stake on the board of Air India? Tata Bros have the majority yes, but SIA have shown with Vistara they can run a decent airline.

The biggest threat on the India route for Malaysia Airlines is Singapore Airlines. SIA have a good spread of ports in India better than Malaysia thanks also to Scoot. Only way MH can out do SQ is on price (and labour costs).

Cheers

[Ho Really]

Well, there's two options, JAL and ANA.

Yes and I would be very happy if ANA took the bull by the horns. They fly to Perth why not here?

Cheers

[VinyTapestry849]

Alright gentleman heres the future fleet Qantas is ordering

29 x A220s
20 x A321-XLRs
4 x B787-9s
8 x B787-10s
12 x A350-1000ULRs, and
12 x A350-1000LRs.

What routes make most sense with our current most popular unserved destinations

NOTE: Qantas clearly don't think Adelaide is important at the moment, so most likely will use the majority of these aircraft for east and west coast cities.

This would be the first most logical international service If QANTAS comes back. Direct. But I wouldn't fear the others losing too much. They'll compete on price.

I think its set in stone we will get our Singapore route back with the new A321-XLR, but I'm not sure about a London. I feel qantas being qantas will want to serve the east and west coasts much more then bother with Adelaide. However, perhaps we could get a twice weekly service to London on a A350-1000ULR. It will never be daily, Emirates and Qatar would get quite annoyed, but it would be good for our national carrier to get us to Europe.

Well, there's two options, JAL and ANA.

Yes and I would be very happy if ANA took the bull by the horns. They fly to Perth why not here?

The problem with ANA, is that they only serve Perth seasonally. Adelaide having half the population as perth, I struggle to see ANA bothering with Adelaide without some serious bribery

[dbl96]

Well, there's two options, JAL and ANA.

Yes and I would be very happy if ANA took the bull by the horns. They fly to Perth why not here?

The problem with ANA, is that they only serve Perth seasonally. Adelaide having half the population as perth, I struggle to see ANA bothering with Adelaide without some serious bribery

Surely Jetstar would be another option. I know people here might prefer to see the route served by a more premium carrier, but Jetstar would help to push prices down, and their whole model is based around the Australian leisure market, which would be the primary demand behind an Adelaide-Tokyo route.

On the same point, I think Adelaide would benefit much more from direct Jetstar flights to Singapore than by getting Qantas back on that route. Jetstar to Singapore would put real downward pressure on prices not only to Singapore, but to a whole range of other destinations which Jetstar connects to through its Singapore hub. Opening up this route would have the effect of making international travel out of Adelaide generally more affordable. For comparison, standard price on MEL - SIN with Jetstar is around $400 return vs around $1000 with Singapore Airlines on ADL-SIN. PER-SIN standard price is even cheaper - around $330 return. You could expect ADL-SIN to sit somewhere between the Melbourne and Perth prices. Yes, Qantas would offer good connectivity to Europe etc via Singapore, but Singapore Airlines already does this (arguably better), and at what would be a similar price point. Jetstar flights to Singapore would democratise international travel to a whole range of destinations in a similar way as they already have with Bali.

Adelaide has a fair bit more than half the population of Perth. Adelaide is around 1.4 million and Perth around 2.3.