Looking good

Chief executive Mark Young says an expansion of services by existing overseas carriers, particularly Singapore and Malaysian Airlines, has seen a 15-20 per cent rise in seating capacity.

While domestic traffic had slipped about 4 per cent in the past financial year with Tiger Airlines abandoning Adelaide, overseas traffic had shown strong growth and regional services had been solid, helped by increased fly in-fly out (FIFO) flights to South Australian resources projects.

“Domestically, we tracked sideways in the past year but are predicting good traffic growth overall this year,” Mr Young has told Australian Aviation.

The company will not release its full traffic and financial figures for 2011-12 until later this year but Mr Young confirms that total passenger numbers had matched last financial year’s 7.4 million and overseas passenger number had risen from 592,600 in 2010-11 to about 650,000.

He believes another 300,000 to 400,000 people had flown to Melbourne or Sydney to connect with overseas flights: “So, there is considerable scope to grow direct traffic. The trend would be helped by the arrival of Emirates on November 1with the Dubai-based airline planning four direct return services to the Middle East each week.

“Getting a service into the Gulf states has been very important for us,” Mr Young says, emphasising that attracting Emirates — which plans to use 354-seat Boeing 777-300ERs on the Adelaide route — will open up new and faster connections through the airline’s Dubai hub. He says this also is likely to encourage more interest in the state as a tourist destination and overseas investment in the local economy.

Having finally achieved its ambition of gaining a Middle East carrier, AAL’s business development team is setting its sights on China and South-East Asia, intensifying its campaign to attract airlines such as China Southern and Thai International.

Mr Young points out: “There’s a compelling case for a direct Adelaide-Bangkok service and mainland China is a priority target but everything has to line up for us to gain that business.”
Meanwhile Garuda, which pulled out of Adelaide during the global financial crisis but is now ordering new aircraft to expand its services, remains a prospect to renew its connection — and the shorter-term business targets include attracting one of the low-cost Asian carriers. Longer-term hopes centre on direct flight to the US and India.

To cope with the expected growth in traffic, Adelaide Airport has a master plan to improve facilities and access for regional operators and their passengers, extend the passenger terminal, increase air cargo business and establish new cargo, logistics and maintenance operations on vacant land on the eastern side of the airport.

The company, which has spent about $450 million on infrastructure including building the $260 million modern passenger terminal since gaining the lease from the Federal Government in May 1998, has proposals for more investment of up to $400 million over the next three to five years.

Progress will depend on demand, Mark Young cautions, but planning is well advanced for new terminal infrastructure for regional and FIFO operators.
This will include extending the apron around to the front of the terminal’s northern wing, and providing new facilities for regional passengers.
This work will enable more direct access to regional aircraft for passengers, and also allow for a further three aerobridges to be installed – a project that is “under active design work” at present.
It‘s also proposed to extend the apron to the south to accommodate FIFO services, which are expected to increase as new mining projects are developed – and eventually the terminal building will expand along the new apron.
AAL has quarantined land to enable the terminal to extend across present open-air car parks to the site of the former, now-demolished domestic terminal.
“But that is a very long-term proposal,” Mr Young said.

Meanwhile, work is being completed on a five-level car park with spaces for 2,000 vehicles — double the capacity of the old short-term area — and its sweeping footbridge to the passenger terminal. The new building is due to be fully commissioned by the end of August. The long-term plan allows for eventual building of a similarly-sized extension.

The car park, owned and operated by Adelaide Airport as a business unit, incorporates rental car outlets, a new, covered taxi and bus drop-off and pick-up areas off the pedestrian plaza, where there will be some small food and drink outlets.

There will be no vehicle traffic across the face of the terminal and a complete separation of traffic and pedestrians within the new precinct. Private cars will have a fee-free space to drop and collect passengers under the new car park.

All work should be finished by the end of the year, giving the terminal front a totally new aspect and making life much easier for passengers, visitors and staff, who have endured substantial disruption to car parking and access during the building project.

Mr Young says: “We remain focused on our target of quality customer service with the best possible facilities. The airport is the first and last experience for visitors to Adelaide so it’s important we make it a good experience.”

Aeronautical activities accounted for revenues of $84.2 million in total income of $153 million in the 2010-11 financial year. Property revenue reached $34 million in that year and commercial trading revenue was $31.8 million — all improvements on previous years.

The CEO indicates there has been a further solid performance in non-aviation activities for the past year with a steady growth in building development for office, warehouse and other private facilities.

The airport still has about 100 hectares of surplus land available for private commercial projects.

The company has been “very active” in seeking new ventures on its surplus land, Mr Young said. “We have some good, near-term prospects.” However, no details are being revealed — just yet.