News & Discussion: Adelaide Airport & Airlines

[rubberman]

Not surprising, another airport getting tonnes of investment. Perth airport getting massive deal with qantas to double flights and new infrastructure.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-31/ ... /103917998

And as per ususual, Adelaide get fuck all

Not even a peep of our Singapore flight returning. Its DISCRIMINATION from Qantas at this point. They hate us.

Frankly, why care? Qantas is ok, but not better than Singapore Airlines in terms of planes, food, or service.

I suspect that's part of the problem for Qantas. Given the number of Singapore Airlines flights from Adelaide, there's enough traffic for one airline to do well. Qantas would have to come in cold, and since it's product isn't better than Singapore's, it would struggle. Further, at the moment, it would probably have to compete using the A330...old and tired, or perhaps the A321 latest versions, but that's single aisle.

It's not discrimination. Qantas has problems if it wants to re-enter the Adelaide market, and competition with Singapore Airlines would be a challenge.

[Jaymz]

Not surprising, another airport getting tonnes of investment. Perth airport getting massive deal with qantas to double flights and new infrastructure.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-31/ ... /103917998

And as per ususual, Adelaide get fuck all

Not even a peep of our Singapore flight returning. Its DISCRIMINATION from Qantas at this point. They hate us.

Frankly, why care? Qantas is ok, but not better than Singapore Airlines in terms of planes, food, or service.

I suspect that's part of the problem for Qantas. Given the number of Singapore Airlines flights from Adelaide, there's enough traffic for one airline to do well. Qantas would have to come in cold, and since it's product isn't better than Singapore's, it would struggle. Further, at the moment, it would probably have to compete using the A330...old and tired, or perhaps the A321 latest versions, but that's single aisle.

It's not discrimination. Qantas has problems if it wants to re-enter the Adelaide market, and competition with Singapore Airlines would be a challenge.

Yeah exactly. Plus we also have Qatar Airways, who I have flown with in the last few weeks. The flight out of Adelaide was packed solid, the return Adelaide flight was on the very comfortable Airbus A350 900 Q. As far as economy goes, this is as good as it gets IMO.

My 2nd leg was on the Boeing 787-8, and on comparison the Airbus is a much more comfortable and modern plane.

[Mr Smith]

Not surprising, another airport getting tonnes of investment. Perth airport getting massive deal with qantas to double flights and new infrastructure.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-31/ ... /103917998

And as per ususual, Adelaide get fuck all

Not even a peep of our Singapore flight returning. Its DISCRIMINATION from Qantas at this point. They hate us.

Frankly, why care? Qantas is ok, but not better than Singapore Airlines in terms of planes, food, or service.

I suspect that's part of the problem for Qantas. Given the number of Singapore Airlines flights from Adelaide, there's enough traffic for one airline to do well. Qantas would have to come in cold, and since it's product isn't better than Singapore's, it would struggle. Further, at the moment, it would probably have to compete using the A330...old and tired, or perhaps the A321 latest versions, but that's single aisle.

It's not discrimination. Qantas has problems if it wants to re-enter the Adelaide market, and competition with Singapore Airlines would be a challenge.

Exactly. Qantas is very much a second rate outfit these days. Old planes and very average service.
Under investment in fleet for the past 20 years. A handful of 787-9's - big deal.
Frankly we are not missing out. As other posters have pointed out, Singapore and Qatar offer a far superior product and soon Emirates will return.
Personally, I would avoid Qantas even if they did offer routes from Adelaide, they simply are not in same class.

[Saltwater]

Qantas are quite happy to maintain a small number of hubs, historically Sydney & Melbourne, but increasingly Brisbane, and now Perth to route domestic traffic onto international flights.

Sadly for Qantas they see Adelaide purely as a domestic airport, and despite the passenger experience, are happy for us to transit through any of the airports mentioned above to fly internationally. This is largely because their fleet size is woefully inadequate for a national carrier, with a small fleet of 14 x 787's (the same number as Air NZ!) , 16 x A330's, and 10 x ageing A380's. 737's pick up the slack on shorter international routes.

That leaves us as the mercy of hub and spoke operators like Qatar and Singapore Air. It's a shame other airlines that could fly international out of Adelaide are currently reluctant to do so. For family reasons I'd love to see direct flights to Christchurch, but it's unlikely to happen when Qantas isn't interested, Virgin don't seem to keen on flying to NZ, and AirNZ face a shortage of aircraft.

[ChillyPhilly]

I think Perth Airport will be world class when all terminals are together and when they add a second runway. You can see it is well laid out. Adelaide and Perth are in different leagues. They can't be compared. We should be proud of ours considering the size of Adelaide. We've done pretty well and it will get better when all the expansion plans come to fruition over the next ten years.



Agree! Plus they have rail there. So they are ahead of Melbourne (and Adelaide, of course).

[dsriggs]

People complaining about Perth getting huge infrastructure upgrades are failing to understand that the 787 Dreamliners can fly non-stop from Perth to London, Rome & a number of other potential European capitals, all of which are too far from Adelaide to reach safely. With these upgrades, a trip to Europe will be less likely to result in a transfer in Singapore Changi or Hong Kong & more likely to transfer in Perth to go straight to the destination.

[JCK98]

People complaining about Perth getting huge infrastructure upgrades are failing to understand that the 787 Dreamliners can fly non-stop from Perth to London, Rome & a number of other potential European capitals, all of which are too far from Adelaide to reach safely. With these upgrades, a trip to Europe will be less likely to result in a transfer in Singapore Changi or Hong Kong & more likely to transfer in Perth to go straight to the destination.

Qantas are planning on replacing these 787s on ultra long haul routes with A350s from 2026, which they're planning on also running from the east coast to Europe. They could safely reach London from Adelaide with them, less certain Qantas would see it as economical though.

Personally, don't think it really matters, would rather more Singapore Airlines flights that connect better to Europe. Qatar is also there and Emirates is coming back. All with very good connecting airports. An American connection would be nice too.

[rev]

People complaining about Perth getting huge infrastructure upgrades are failing to understand that the 787 Dreamliners can fly non-stop from Perth to London, Rome & a number of other potential European capitals, all of which are too far from Adelaide to reach safely. With these upgrades, a trip to Europe will be less likely to result in a transfer in Singapore Changi or Hong Kong & more likely to transfer in Perth to go straight to the destination.

Qantas are planning on replacing these 787s on ultra long haul routes with A350s from 2026, which they're planning on also running from the east coast to Europe. They could safely reach London from Adelaide with them, less certain Qantas would see it as economical though.

Personally, don't think it really matters, would rather more Singapore Airlines flights that connect better to Europe. Qatar is also there and Emirates is coming back. All with very good connecting airports. An American connection would be nice too.

1000% on Singapore improving their connections to Europe from Adelaide. They used to offer a complimentary hotel & taxi from/to the airport/hotel for layovers in Singapore. They should re-introduce this. I don't think Qatar or Emirates offer this. Would be a good point of difference between them particularly given the extra hours spent from Singapore to Europe as opposed Doha to Europe.

[Jaymz]

I think it's also important for Qatar to return to a daily service from Adelaide, which I imagine there is more than enough demand for.

Several months ago when I booked my recent holiday, there was still occasional days that were Adelaide-Melbourne-Doha. Which I avoided of course.

[VinyTapestry849]

I think it's also important for Qatar to return to a daily service from Adelaide.

Qatar has been serving Adelaide direct daily since 2016...

QR914 arrives everyday at Adelaide airport around 3:30pm to 4:00pm. Depart as QR195 each night at 10PM.

You probably couldn't book because it was full. It is always full which is good, you can barely get a seat anymore. You have to book at least a week in advance to get a spot on Qatar out of Adelaide now.

Qatar also flies everyday in the mornings out of Adelaide to Melbourne, so qatar can get more flights out of Melbourne to doha.

[Jaymz]

I think it's also important for Qatar to return to a daily service from Adelaide.

Qatar has been serving Adelaide direct daily since 2016...

QR914 arrives everyday at Adelaide airport around 3:30pm to 4:00pm. Depart as QR195 each night at 10PM.

You probably couldn't book because it was full. It is always full which is good, you can barely get a seat anymore. You have to book at least a week in advance to get a spot on Qatar out of Adelaide now.

Qatar also flies everyday in the mornings out of Adelaide to Melbourne, so qatar can get more flights out of Melbourne to doha.

Thanks for the clarification. But i'm sure both of those flights weren't available each day when I booked in mid-March, especially the direct Adelaide one.

[VinyTapestry849]

I think it's also important for Qatar to return to a daily service from Adelaide.

Qatar has been serving Adelaide direct daily since 2016...

QR914 arrives everyday at Adelaide airport around 3:30pm to 4:00pm. Depart as QR195 each night at 10PM.

You probably couldn't book because it was full. It is always full which is good, you can barely get a seat anymore. You have to book at least a week in advance to get a spot on Qatar out of Adelaide now.

Qatar also flies everyday in the mornings out of Adelaide to Melbourne, so qatar can get more flights out of Melbourne to doha.

Thanks for the clarification. But i'm sure both of those flights weren't available each day when I booked in mid-March, especially the direct Adelaide one.

What year was this, 2023?

[Ho Really]

Qantas are planning on replacing these 787s on ultra long haul routes with A350s from 2026, which they're planning on also running from the east coast to Europe. They could safely reach London from Adelaide with them, less certain Qantas would see it as economical though.

Yep, if it is economical for QANTAS. Qatar is doing them no favours currently and shortly Emirates too. But let's wait and see it will take a few years though to get some sort of answer.

Personally, don't think it really matters, would rather more Singapore Airlines flights that connect better to Europe. Qatar is also there and Emirates is coming back. All with very good connecting airports. An American connection would be nice too.

Yes we want twice daily to Singapore. This will open up more choices for us to fly to Europe with shorter layovers. Of course you can do the same and more with Qatar and shortly with Emirates. They fly to more destinations in Europe. Only other real alternative is Turkish but you'd need to fly to Melbourne first and I think many here would rather not do that.

Cheers

[Ho Really]

1000% on Singapore improving their connections to Europe from Adelaide. They used to offer a complimentary hotel & taxi from/to the airport/hotel for layovers in Singapore. They should re-introduce this. I don't think Qatar or Emirates offer this. Would be a good point of difference between them particularly given the extra hours spent from Singapore to Europe as opposed Doha to Europe.

The complimentary hotel and taxi won't come back. It hasn't been available for a while now. I used to get many layovers on the return flights from Europe. The last free anything they gave me was access to the Ambassadors Transit Lounge in T3 even though I could have refused it as I had Star Alliance Gold and could've used the KrisFlyer Gold Lounge in T3 (this before it was moved and renovated). I actually went to both lounges. While the Gold Lounge was being renovated we had access to the Marhaba Lounge just up the road. Anyhow when Singapore Airlines ramps up the second flight long layovers should be a thing of the past but they need to do this daily because three flights will not be good for all European cities flying back to Oz (and vice versa). Rome is one. I flew to Rome in January this year with only a three hour stop over but if I want to do this again when they reintroduce SQ276 there is no point I would have to fly SQ278 and layover nearly 11 hours. The same the other way round I would need to stay all day in Singapore at my own expense as there is no SQ277 to Adelaide with a two hour layover. I haven't checked other European cities and which ones are affected like Rome. I know Amsterdam and London are fine as there have daily flights with London several flights a day. I'm flying to Amsterdam later this year and returning from Brussels. So when you book here you have the option of SQ277 or SQ279 returning to ADL. Since there will be some jet lag if I come back with SQ277 I will stop in Singapore and relax then come back on SQ279. With twice daily flights travellers will have a better choice. The sooner this happens the better.

Cheers

[ml69]

People complaining about Perth getting huge infrastructure upgrades are failing to understand that the 787 Dreamliners can fly non-stop from Perth to London, Rome & a number of other European capitals, all of which are too far from Adelaide to reach safely. With these upgrades, a trip to Europe will be less likely to result in a transfer in Singapore Changi or Hong Kong & more likely to transfer in Perth to go straight to the destination.

Spot on. It’s entirely due to Perth’s strategic location and direct connectability to Europe. It’s smart business and wil allow Qantas to regain lost market share from Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airlines etc.

Also, one huge combined Domestic/International terminal is the airport terminal model that new airports are based on now. We should be thankful that Adelaide’s current terminal was built like this 20 years ago.

Different cities have different competitive advantages due to location. I was told recently by a friend who works in defence that one of the main reasons Adelaide has become Australia’s defence hub is due to our remote location on the south coast of the country. We are difficult to attack from the north, west and east as it could easily be picked up by radar. And there is nothing south of us!