Adelaide Airport

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. The demand on aviation outgrew Parafield and the current site of Adelaide Airport was selected at West Torrens (now West Beach) in January 1946. An alternative site at Port Adelaide, including a seaplane facility, was considered inferior and too far from the C.B.D. Construction began and flights commenced in 1954. Parafield Airport was turned into a private and military aviation facility.

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. 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. 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.

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

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. On 29 October 2009 Tiger announced it would be housing its third A320 at Adelaide Airport from early 2010. Tiger Airways later shut down its operations from Adelaide only to recommence them in 2013.

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

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. 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.

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.

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:

Domestic

Ground transport

Adelaide Metro operates frequent JetBus buses connecting the airport to the Central Business District and Glenelg. Routes J1, J1X and J3 operate to the City every 15mins. Route J1 also operates to Harbour Town Shopping Centre and Routes J1 and J3 continue to Glenelg. Routes J7 and J8 operate to West Lakes and Marion. 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.