Adelaide Airport tops 1 million international passengers

More than 1 million international passengers passed through Adelaide Airport in the year to the end of June 2018, the first time this milestone has been reached.

An additional 52,500 international passengers travelled to and from Adelaide in 2017/18, an increase of 5.5 per cent on the previous year.

The biggest inbound increase has been in the China market, with an additional 11,000 Chinese visitors arriving over the past year.

The largest increase in outbound passenger numbers was in the Fiji market, with approximately 8,000 more South Australians making the most of the new, direct Fiji Airways service to Nadi.

Adelaide Airport Managing Director, Mark Young, said the continuing strong international growth reinforced the recent announcement to expand the main terminal, with a focus on international facilities.

“Not only are we attracting new airlines travelling to new destinations, our existing airline partners are increasing services to cater for the demand,” Mr Young said.

“Since privatisation in 1998, our international passenger numbers have more than quadrupled. The number of international destinations has increased from 4 to 9 over the same period, which in turn has created one-stop connections with more than 300 cities around the globe.

“We continue to work hard to attract new airlines flying to new locations, and the US west coast is very much on our radar.”

Mr Young said it wasn’t just travellers who benefited. More and more South Australian exporters were now taking advantage of international flights to get their products to markets around the world more quickly and efficiently.

Service increases (June 2018 v June 2017):

Airline Destination Increase

Fiji Airways Nadi 2 new flights per week Qatar Airways Doha From 5 to 7 flights per week China Southern Guangzhou From 3 to 5 flights per week (seasonal) Singapore Airlines Singapore From daily to 10 flights per week (seasonal) Jetstar Denpasar (Bali) From daily to 10 flights per week (seasonal) Air New Zealand Auckland Dreamliner 787 introduced on select services

Both Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific have announced service increases in the second half of 2018. Fiji Airways will introduce its brand new B737 MAX 8 aircraft on the Adelaide-Nadi route in December.