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Be WOWed by Adelaide Airport with Wineries, Outback and Wildlife

Posted: 3 July 2024 | | No comments yet

In this exclusive interview with Jonathan Cheong, Head of Aviation Business Development at Adelaide Airport, Jonathan discusses the airport’s recovery,  the Flight Track to Growth Strategy Paper (COVID-19 response), that he and his team developed and the recommendations that came from these, their route development ambitions which includes the Network Vision 2050 and who he would most like to sit next to on a long-haul flight.

For month of January 2024 Jonathan said that Adelaide Airport‘s international traffic movements recovered to 95% of their pre-COVID traffic levels, and this is without carriers such as Emirates, China Southern, Cathay Pacific flying back to the Australian market just yet. Emirates have announced they will start operations to Adelaide once again in October.

For domestic travel, in January 2024 they hit 102% of pre-COVID traffic levels.

In terms of passenger trends, Jonathan says that they have seen a reshuffling of the most desirable destinations for their travellers.

Pre-COVID, Indonesia was their largest international market, New Zealand is number 2. Pre-COVID Vietnam was ranked their 11th top international market, it has now jumped up to eighth place due to a Vietjet service that started in November 2023 which has stimulated the market and opened up education, leisure and corporate traffic.

Jonathan reported that India has also become a very important market for them now as well, pre-COVID it was ranked number six, now it is ranked number four.

China used to be top three – it has now dropped to sixth place. This means they are very keen to get China Southern flights back.

Jonathan explained that Adelaide Airport has mapped out its Network Vision 2050 and has set a target to operate direct flights to 39 global cities  by 2050. This will be done in phases, phase 1 will see 13 non-stop flights by 2030, going up to 24 destinations by 2040, and then 39 destinations by 2050.

Currently in phase 1, Adelaide Airport is hoping to re-acquire all of its pre-COVID carriers back into its market by this year. 

Their top 4 key target markets by 2030 are:

  • Vietnam
  • The Philippines
  • Japan
  • U.S.

Jonathan then gave us his elevator pitch for why airlines should choose to fly to Adelaide Airport. 

Jonathan said that they are a “WOW Adelaide”. W-inery, O-utback and W-ildlife. “Come to Adelaide so you can be WOWED by us!” he said.

Stay tuned right to the end to find out who Jonathan would most like to sit next to on a long-haul flight from Adelaide to Doha. 

Watch the exclusive interview now!

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