Adelaide Airport

Adelaide Airport
Adelaide Airport T1, Qantas Check in Desks
IATA: ADL – ICAO: YPAD
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Adelaide Airport Limited
Serves	Adelaide
Location	Adelaide Airport, South Australia
Hub for	Alliance Airlines Qantas Regional Express Airlines Sharp Airlines Cobham
Focus city for	Virgin Australia Jetstar Airways
Elevation AMSL	20 ft / 6 m
Coordinates	34°56′42″S 138°31′50″E / 34.94500°S 138.53056°E / -34.94500; 138.53056Coordinates: 34°56′42″S 138°31′50″E / 34.94500°S 138.53056°E / -34.94500; 138.53056
Website	adelaideairport.com.au
Map
ADL Location in Adelaide
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 3,100 10,171 Asphalt 12/30 1,652 5,420 Asphalt
Statistics (2014/15)
Passengers 7,842,000 Movements 100,000
Sources: Adelaide Airport Ltd[1]

Adelaide Airport (IATA: ADL, ICAO: YPAD) is the principal airport of Adelaide, South Australia and the fifth busiest airport in Australia, servicing 7,696,000 passengers in the financial year ending 30 June 2014.^[1] Located adjacent to West Beach, it is approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) west of the city-centre. It has been operated privately by Adelaide Airport Limited under a long-term lease from the Commonwealth Government since 29 May 1998.^{[2]:p 25}

First established in 1955, a new dual international/domestic terminal was opened in 2005 which has received numerous awards, including being named the world's second-best international airport (5–15 million passengers) in 2006.^[3] Also, it has been named Australia's best capital city airport in 2006, 2009 and 2011.^[4]

In the financial year ended June 2014, Adelaide Airport experienced passenger growth of 25.5% internationally, growth of 3.5% domestically and a decrease of 4.7% regionally, resulting in an overall increase of 5% from the previous year.^[1]

History

The first Adelaide airport was an aerodrome constructed in 1921 on 24 ha (59 acres) of land in Hendon. The small facility allowed for a mail service between Adelaide and Sydney. To meet the substantial growth in aviation, Parafield Airport was developed in 1927. By 1947, the demand on aviation had outgrown Parafield and the current site of Adelaide Airport was selected at West Torrens (now West Beach). Construction began and flights commenced in 1954. Parafield Airport was turned into a private and military aviation facility.

Passengers boarding from the tarmac in December 1967; this continued for domestic passengers until 2006.

An annexe to one of the large hangars at the airport served as a passenger terminal until the Commonwealth Government provided funds for the construction of a temporary building.^[5] International services became regular from 1982 upon the construction of an international terminal. A new dual-use $260 million facility replaced both the original 'temporary' domestic and international terminals in 2005.

In October 2006, the new terminal was named the Capital City Airport of the Year at the Australian Aviation Industry Awards in Cairns.^[6] In March 2007, Adelaide Airport was rated the world's second best airport in the 5–15 million passengers category at the Airports Council International (ACI) 2006 awards in Dubai.^[7]

Plans were announced for an expansion of the terminal in July 2007, including more aerobridges and demolition of the old International Terminal.^[8]

On 5 August 2008 Tiger Airways Australia confirmed that Adelaide Airport would become the airline's second hub which would base two of the airline's Airbus A320s by early 2009.^[9] On 29 October 2009 Tiger announced it would be housing its third A320 at Adelaide Airport from early 2010.^[10] Tiger Airways later shut down its operations from Adelaide only to recommence them in 2013.^[11]

The airport encountered major problems during the eruption of Puyehue volcano in Chile, the ash cloud caused flights to be cancelled nationwide, with over 40,000 passengers being left stranded in Adelaide.

Previous terminals

The original international terminal had only one gate with limited space for passengers. Check in desks were small and waiting space was limited. It was partially demolished to make the area more secure and allow aircraft to park on the other side of the terminal. The old domestic terminal was closed shortly after the new terminal was opened to flights and was demolished not long after. A new control tower was built west of the current terminal with the old control tower maintained for additional operations.

Present terminal building

Adelaide International Airport official aerodrome Chart

A large crowd watches Qantas A380 VH-OQA visit Adelaide, 27 September 2008

Main concourse terminal one, 2006

The airport was redeveloped in 2005 at a cost of $260 million. The redevelopment was managed by builders Hansen Yuncken. Before the redevelopment, the old airport terminal was criticised for its limited capacity and lack of aerobridges.

Proposals were developed for an upgraded terminal of world standard. The final proposal, released in 1997, called for a large, unified terminal in which both domestic and international flights would use the same terminal. A combination of factors, the most notable of which was the collapse of Ansett Australia, then a duopoly domestic carrier with Qantas, and the resultant loss of funds for its share of the construction cost, saw the new terminal plans shelved until an agreement was reached in 2002.

The new terminal was opened on 7 October 2005 by the Prime Minister John Howard and South Australian Premier Mike Rann. However, Adelaide Airport Limited announced soon afterward that only international flights would use the new facility immediately due to problems with the fuel pumps and underground pipes. These problems related initially to the anti-rusting agent applied to the insides of the fuel pumps, then to construction debris in the pipes. Although international and regional (from December 2005) aircraft were refuelled via tankers, a lack of space and safety concerns prevented this action for domestic jet aircraft, which instead continued operations at the old terminal. The re-fueling system was cleared of all debris and the new terminal was used for all flights from 17 February 2006.^[12] The new airport terminal is approximately 850 m (2,790 ft) end to end and is capable of handling 27 aircraft, including an Airbus A380, simultaneously and processing 3,000 passengers per hour. It includes high-amenity public and airline lounges, 14 glass-sided aerobridges, 42 common user check-in desks and 34 shop fronts. Free wireless Internet is also provided throughout the terminal by Internode Systems, a first for an Australian airport.^[13]

The first Qantas A380, VH-OQA "Nancy Bird Walton", landed at the airport on 27 September 2008, Several thousand spectators gathered to catch a glimpse of the giant aircraft. This was a 25-minute stopover before it flew on to Melbourne. This was one of several visits the airliner made as part of a pilot training and testing program.

In July 2013, Adelaide Airport became the first Australian airport and second airport worldwide to have Google Street View technology, allowing passengers to explore the arrival and departure sections of the airport before travel.^[14]

Recent development

As of 2011 a series of developments are either underway, approved or proposed for Adelaide Airport. In February 2011 a A$100 million building program was launched as part of a five-year master plan. The developments which have been made public (whether part of the building plan or not) are listed below:

• New airport road network to improve traffic flow (completed)
• New multi-storey car park – increasing parking spaces from 800 to 1,650 (completed August 2012)^[15]
• New passenger terminal plaza frontage (completed March 2013)
• Walkway bridge connecting new car park and existing terminal building (completed March 2013)
• Terminal concourse extension
• Three new aerobridges
• Terminal commercial projects and passenger facilities
• Relocation of regional carrier Rex
• Relocation of old transportable charter aircraft operators' terminal
• New control tower, twice the height of the old tower, expected to cost A$16.9 million (opened early 2012)
• Addition of Emirates airlines to the list of airlines serving the airport.
• Adelaide Airport Hotel (37 m (121 ft) tall, nine levels)

Airlines and destinations

Cargo

The tarmac of the current terminal

Traffic and statistics

Domestic

Busiest domestic/regional routes out of Adelaide Airport

	Airport	Passengers
		Year Ending 2014/15[21]	% Change	September 2015[22]	% Change
1	04 ! Melbourne	2,282,904	01 !1.8	188,739	01 !1.9
2	07 ! Sydney	1,816,962	03 !2.2	151,164	03 !2.4
3	01 ! Brisbane	782,516	02 !2.7	64,993	02 !0.3
4	05 ! Perth	607,514	04 !2.6	50,076	04 !2.8
5	03 ! Gold Coast	215,164	06 !1.5	19,739	06 !8.0
6	06 ! Port Lincoln	190,853	07 !1.7	14,404	07 !9.4
7	02 ! Canberra	173,678	05 !2.8	14,857	05 !2.9
8	02 ! Alice Springs1	29,086	n/a	10,511	n/a

International

Busiest International routes out of Adelaide Airport

	Airport	Passengers
		Year Ending 2014/15[23]	% Change	September 2015[24]	% Change
1	04 ! Dubai	208,912	01 !8.9	18,978	01 !0.4
2	07 ! Singapore	205,677	03 !14.2	16,231	03 !4.7
3	01 ! Kuala Lumpur–International	200,135	02 !13.1	7,950	02 !57.6
4	05 ! Denpasar (Bali)	150,303	04 !70.4	14,048	02 !0.02
5	03 ! Hong Kong	90,224	06 !40.9	7,989	06 !8.9
6	06 ! Auckland	78,226	07 !15.2	5,904	07 !2.2

Cargo

Busiest international freight routes into and out of Adelaide Airport
(YE June 2011)^[25]

Rank	Airport	Tonnes	% Change
1	04 !Singapore, Singapore	10,995.7	03 !10.8
2	21 !Hong Kong, Hong Kong	3,413.2	02 !8.8
3	03 !Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur–International	2,984.4	01 !1.9
4	01 !New Zealand, Auckland	449.4	04 !11.8

Ground transport

Adelaide Metro operates frequent JetBus buses connecting the airport to the Central Business District and Glenelg. Routes J1, J1X and J2 operate to the City every 15mins. Routes J1 and J2 also operate to Harbour Town Shopping Centre and route J1 continues to Glenelg. Routes J7 and J8 operate to West Lakes and Marion.^[26] The AAL's latest airport master plan proposes a light rail service. Historically airlines provided connecting buses to the Central Business District, after which a private bus service provided a service until 2013.

Incidents and accidents

• On 29 August 2007, a departing Saab 340B experienced buffeting and uncommanded roll soon after takeoff, attributed to the wake turbulence from an Airbus A320 that had departed 30 seconds earlier.^[27]
• On 31 July 2014, a departing Malaysia Airlines jet nearly collided with an airborne Tiger Airways aircraft.^[28]

See also

• List of airports in South Australia
• Transportation in Australia

References

External links

Media related to Adelaide Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Adelaide Airport Limited
• Adelaide Airport webcam, updated every 60 seconds. The camera is looking north east from Gate 26
• Video of Qantas A380's first visit to Adelaide Airport

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