Opening up Adelaide Airport

Adelaide Airport Ltd’s managing director, Phil Baker, told Australian Aviation that being grouped with smaller international gateways such as Cairns and Darwin as one of the secondary airports under Federal Government aviation policy meant overseas airlines had no trouble obtaining traffic rights.

Although Adelaide was not named specifically as a favoured secondary airport in last December’s Aviation White Paper, causing some consternation locally, the oversight was cleared up by Transport Minister Anthony Albanese in his statement that Australia would offer foreign airlines unlimited access to secondary gates – “airports other than Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth”.

“We always understood we were part of the regional package, allowing overseas airlines to fly here as often as they like,“ Baker said.
However, Adelaide was “a tough sell” as a destination for overseas carriers, which preferred the major markets of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

“Our overseas services are a bit thin,” he admitted. “Compared with the other major airports, we are massively under-served per head of population.”

At present, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines operate daily services through Adelaide, while Malaysia Airlines has four return services a week from Kuala Lumpur and Air New Zealand operates Adelaide-Auckland five times a week.

Qantas has only three international services weekly through Adelaide, to Singapore and on to Europe, and Virgin’s Pacific Blue flies to Denpasar in Bali, also three times a week.

On the shorter Asia-Pacific routes, Adelaide Airport is hoping that Pacific Blue will increase frequencies to Bali and reinstate Fiji as a direct destination, and that Air New Zealand will move to a daily service, while the airport’s management has discussed starting direct Adelaide-Christchurch services with both airlines.

Its best prospects for Asia lie with carriers China Southern and Vietnam Airlines.

Representatives of China Southern attended the recent Routes Asia regional conference in Adelaide and expressed interest in starting a service between Adelaide and its Guangzhou base in China.

Adelaide Airport has undertaken considerable work on route development for overseas airlines, to demonstrate the market opportunities, and in China Southern’s case, the strong trade, education and tourism links underpin the potential for direct services, Baker says.
Similarly growing Vietnamese trade and travel in both directions could support direct services.

In both cases, Adelaide Airport – in conjunction with the South Australian Tourism Commission and the state’s Department of Trade and Economic Development – initiated a “whole suite” of route and operational studies and the airport owner is seeking to interest travel operators in supporting charter flights on the two routes.

These would test the market and act as stepping stones to regular services.

“They’re our hottest prospects at the moment,“ Baker said.

The airport’s management was “close to a deal” with Vietnam Airlines for two return charters between Vietnam and Adelaide later this year and hoped to get a similar undertaking from China Southern.

“The market is huge if we can break through,” he added.

Thailand also was a good Asian route prospect, either as a new route for Qantas unit Jetstar or for a Thai airline.

Adelaide Airport came close to securing services by Emirates, but the GFC intervened. Talks continue with the Dubai-based airline, and have been extended to Gulf rivals Etihad and Qatar.

“It’s a no-brainer,” Baker said. “We should have a Middle East route.”

The wish-list extends to North America, and Baker’s team will hold talks with US airlines in August.

“We haven’t pushed very hard in the US in the past,” he said. There was potential for trans-Pacific flights to add an Adelaide leg to the major east coast destinations.

Meanwhile, domestic traffic through Adelaide is growing again and passenger numbers for the 2009-2010 financial year are expected top six million for the first time, with AAL forecasting further growth this financial year.

Helping the process is Tiger’s decision to base a third A320 in Adelaide, and hopes that Jetstar might add to its limited Adelaide services.
On intrastate routes, the completion of engineering and environmental studies for the proposed massive expansion at BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine had led to a fall in traffic, Baker said, but the return of QantasLink to Adelaide-Port Lincoln services had fuelled a 30 percent rise in traffic on the route, with only a minor reduction in loadings for Regional Air Express (Rex).