Adelaide Airport reaches 8 million passengers in 2016

Tuesday 17 January, 2017

Adelaide Airport welcomed its 8 millionth passenger in a calendar year for the first time in 2016, achieving the milestone on New Year’s Eve.
The total number of international, domestic and regional passengers for 2016 was 8,007,000, up 2.5 per cent on the previous year.

The biggest increase was international passengers, with an additional 50,000 people traveling overseas in the past year. This has been on the back of the introduction of Qatar Airways services in May and China Southern in December, and new domestic services to Avalon and the Sunshine Coast.
Adelaide Airport Managing Director, Mark Young, said there were positive signs for further strong growth as China Southern established its market and Fiji Airways started flying to Nadi in June 2017.

“It’s great to reach a milestone like this. We estimate the 8 millionth passenger would have been flying in or out of Adelaide early afternoon on New Year’s Eve,” Mr Young said.
“That equates to close to 22,000 passengers per day on average, or nearly 1,300 passengers per hour of operation (6am – 11pm).
“Adelaide Airport has come a long way in a relatively short time, particularly since the opening of the new terminal just over a decade ago.
“There are positive signs for future growth, and importantly we are continuing to upgrade facilities to cater for that demand.
“Construction of the new Atura Hotel is expected to begin early this year, and we’re working hard on plans to upgrade the terminal itself, particularly in the international area where we’ve seen the strongest growth in recent years.

“Our next likely milestone will be to hit 1 million international passengers per year, and there is a good chance we’ll reach that mark in the course of the 2017/18 financial year.”
International passenger numbers in 2016 were 924,000 – up 5.9 per cent. Domestic and regional passenger numbers increased to 7,083,000 – up 2.1 per cent.