ADL’s vision for the future

ADELAIDE Airport will invest more than $1 billion over the next five years to turn the South Australian air hub into a national leader in both efficiency and security.

A new 2023 Integrated Report detailed several infrastructure improvements planned over the next five years, including an expansion and upgrade of its screening processes to make the traveller experience more seamless and effective.

Check-in hall technology upgrades were also flagged in the plan, in addition to more aircraft parking space, north and south terminal pier expansions to create more gates, and a larger kerbside pick-up and drop-off precinct to improve traffic flow.

Part of the motivation for the radical suite of upgrades is the what the airport’s management described as “a backdrop of ferocious global competition”.

Key airline targets remain including the return of in’l customers Emirates, China Southern and Cathay Pacific, as well as surpassing pre-pandemic international customer numbers.

As it stands, Adelaide Airport continues to recover well, having recently published an upward forecast of 87% of 2019 volumes for the first quarter of 2024.

If it comes to fruition, the result will represent a healthy improvement on 2023, which is currently tracking at around 66% of overseas pax pre-COVID levels.

Other key achievements noted in its latest report include attracting and retaining the best airport staff, the full launch of its domestic and int’l retail space (which is now fully leased), and improving the vision for what is possible for travellers to visit while in South Australia.