Adelaide Airport says it exceeded eight million passengers for the first time in 2016 and is hopeful of further growth in the current year amid new international and domestic flights.
The airport said on Tuesday it handled 8.007 million passengers in the 12 months to December 31 2016, an increase of 2.5 per cent from the prior corresponding period.
International passengers grew 5.9 per cent to 924,000, while the number of domestic and regional travellers at the airport was up 2.1 per cent to 7.083 million.
The airport benefitted from the arrival of Qatar Airways in May 2016 and China Southern in December 2016, while on the domestic front Jetstar commenced nonstop flights from Adelaide to Melbourne Avalon and Sunshine Coast airports.
And there is more new capacity planned for 2017 with Fiji Airways set to link Adelaide and Nadi with twice weekly flights from June using Boeing 737-800 equipment.
http://thewofa.com/2016/12/fiji-airways-heading-to-adelaide/
Adelaide Airport managing director Mark Young said the airport was on track to reach one million international passengers in 2017.
“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,” Young said in a statement.
“Our next likely milestone will be to hit one 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.”
Adelaide Airport is building 14 new self-service bag drop and 32 check-in kiosks as part of a technology upgrade and contact extension with technology provider SITA.
Further, a new on-site hotel was expected to open its doors to guest by the end of 2018 as part of the 30-year, $2 billion site development plan that also included expanding Adelaide’s existing domestic and international terminals.
“There are positive signs for future growth, and importantly we are continuing to upgrade facilities to cater for that demand,” Young said.
