Qatar Airways now also heading to ADL

[Rowan McKeever]

Qatar Airways commences daily A350 services to ADL from 2 May 2016 (first ADL arrival / departure 3 May):

QR914 DOH2055-1625(+1)ADL D 359
QR915 ADL2130-0450(+1)DOH D 359

http://www.qatarairways.com/qa/en/press-release.page?pr_id=pressrelease_131015_adelaide

[Stefan Perkas]

how is this in the international forum and not on Australia forum??? Last I check Adelaide was apart of Australia

[Rowan McKeever]

I wondered that as well... but the SYD announcement was in international so I assumed that was a thing...

[Justin L]

I agree. Have moved to the Australia Forum.

[MarkR]

Be interesting to see how long it lasts, I know EK are struggling ex ADL.

[Rowan McKeever]

Are they? I didn't realise that. I took that flight on my way from CBR to Scotland not quite two years ago, along with at least a dozen other people who came off the same CBR-ADL. Shame if it goes, bloody convenient (although less so now QF9 is retimed).

[MarkR]

Growth is very low over the past two years, around three percent. By other airline standards loads are reasonable at circa 70-80%, but of course that will drop now. It would be interesting to see what their premium and codeshare traffic is like, which may be a saving grace for them.

[Tony Haynes]

Emirates loads out of Adelaide have been very good since they started. Problem is the yields are low but they do carry a lot of freight. The recent announcement of Qatar to Adelaide will probably end the rumour of the second EK flight that was to begin next yr and i personally think they will do very well here.

[Justin L]

Is there any chance/rumour of EY adding an ADL-AUH flight as well?

[MarkR]

Emirates loads out of Adelaide have been very good since they started. Problem is the yields are low but they do carry a lot of freight. The recent announcement of Qatar to Adelaide will probably end the rumour of the second EK flight that was to begin next yr and i personally think they will do very well here.

Offical figures don't show that to be the case, for instance 7T of freight is not much, 25% of full pax load capacity.

[Tony Haynes]

I dont know where u get your info from but sources i know here in Adelaide state that Ek do extremely well out of Adelaide with both Pax and freight. Hence that is why Ek are considering upgrading to the A380 or adding a second flight in the near future. I cannot see Ek pulling back services here at all and since they started flying to Adelaide the International passenger numbers through this airport have gone up over 30%.

[MarkR]

I dont know where u get your info from but sources i know here in Adelaide state that Ek do extremely well out of Adelaide with both Pax and freight. Hence that is why Ek are considering upgrading to the A380 or adding a second flight in the near future. I cannot see Ek pulling back services here at all and since they started flying to Adelaide the International passenger numbers through this airport have gone up over 30%.

I use the published data from the government, which in the case of your quoted 30% increase in pax since Nov12 actually show close to a 50% increase, from 650k for 2012 to 967k in 2014. Adelaide has the worst load and freight of all the EK ports in Australia, despite it being the only monopoly port in Australia when it comes to Middle East options.... until next year.

[Tony Haynes]

EK are the reason why pax numbers from Adelaide have gone from 650 to over 900k per yr. With Qatar now about to start the 1 million pax mark should be reached in the next 12 months. Beleive me EK do very well out of Adelaide and i hope they increase frequency to match the demand.

[MarkR]

EK are the reason why pax numbers from Adelaide have gone from 650 to over 900k per yr. With Qatar now about to start the 1 million pax mark should be reached in the next 12 months. Beleive me EK do very well out of Adelaide and i hope they increase frequency to match the demand.

Err no, they total 175k a year, 650 + 175 is 825, give some credit to others in their such as Air Asia etc. And the current monthly trend for ADL is a 24% drop year on year comparison for International travel, no doubt amplified by the demise of Malaysia destined services but also a reflection of the economy.

Adelaide won't hit 1M anytime soon, as in the next two years or so.

[Tony Haynes]

Gongratulations to Qatar for adding Adelaide to their network and offering their latest product the A350-900. Im sure they will do well, i know there are some negative people who dont like it but its just another reason not to have to fly east to go west, hey Mark R.

[Tony Haynes]

And wait till you see what other airlines AAL are hoping to start services to Adelaide in the next two yrs. Our 1 million pax barrier hopefully can be reached in the next yr or two. No problems with that.

[Justin L]

What airlines are probable for ADL in the next two years?

From a "one-stop to anywhere" connectivity standpoint, I would like to see:

ADL-AUH EY (connections to Europe)
ADL-CAN CZ (connections to China, NE Asia)
ADL-HNL HA (Hawaii and connections to major US cities)
ADL-SIN JQ (QF group one-stop connectivity in SE Asia through 3K)

Any of these likely?

[Stefan Perkas]

What airlines are probable for ADL in the next two years?

From a "one-stop to anywhere" connectivity standpoint, I would like to see:

ADL-AUH EY (connections to Europe)
ADL-CAN CZ (connections to China, NE Asia)
ADL-HNL HA (Hawaii and connections to major US cities)
ADL-SIN JQ (QF group one-stop connectivity in SE Asia through 3K)

Any of these likely?

Etihad not likely now that Qatar has announced. No room for 3 ME carriers in Adelaide.

China Southern is a defiante, probably be announced in the 6 months- 1year.

Inhave heard America is a main prirority after China To start ADL flights. Weather it be UA or HA.

Unfortuantely I din't see JQ or QF announcung international service out of ADL anytime soon.

[MarkR]

Gongratulations to Qatar for adding Adelaide to their network and offering their latest product the A350-900. Im sure they will do well, i know there are some negative people who dont like it but its just another reason not to have to fly east to go west, hey Mark R.

Hasn't been a reason to fly east to go west for quite some time with QR having served PER for a while along with EK who codeshares with QF (QR does not despite being a OW member).

Don't get me wrong, I love to see more cities with more options, but the reality is Emirates have struggled with Adelaide as a monopoly middle eastern carrier, QR will add pressure and I don't think the market will expand in terms of pax numbers. Outbound tourism will be killed by the dollar drop, and inbound will be asking what the heck is there to do in Adelaide in comparison to other ports (as evidenced by the numbers not getting off in ADL on the CX tag flights over the years).

[MarkR]

And wait till you see what other airlines AAL are hoping to start services to Adelaide in the next two yrs. Our 1 million pax barrier hopefully can be reached in the next yr or two. No problems with that.

Have to recover from the demise of KUL services, that's a 250k hole or 25% of the total international business. Some of those KUL services stopped in Jan, yet SQ have not increased capacity.......? July 2014 ADL had 95610 pax, this year in July ADL has dropped significantly - 77000.

[Justin L]

Well I hope QR proves over time to be a success out of ADL, in conjunction with EK. Comparing the EK and QR route maps, QR offers additional destinations in Eastern Europe and Northern Africa that EK does not, so collectively there will be more one stop choices to more destinations now out of ADL. And for the destinations across Europe, Middle East, etc. that they both serve, it provides additional choice and competition for business and tourism.

I will be flying EK for the first time later this year, across a variety of routes (including out of ADL) and aircraft and look forward experiencing them. I look forward to trying out QR on a future occasion.

While it is true ADL pax can travel through PER to head west rather than through SYD/MEL, having connected Dom-Int in PER before, until the current plan to co-locate like alliance airlines in the same terminal is completed, the current road distance between terminals and the sparsity of transfer buses makes it a most inconvenient transfer IMHO. The terminal in PER is also not as good as MEL/SYD/BNE to kill time in either, although that will improve.

For ADL pax, MEL to me makes the most logical domestic port to connect to/from an international flight when direct service is not offered out of ADL due to the MEL being one terminal building, while SYD and BNE are both doable, although bus/train transfer is annoying. Also a shorter domestic flight to MEL/SYD followed by a better amenity long-haul flight would be my preference, rather than a medium-haul domestic to PER to connect (no wide-bodies flying ADL-PER like from the east coast).

[MarkR]

The EK and AY soft products are good, I have done numerous flights recently on both short haul across the ditch and longhaul to Asia and the Middle East. Some complain about the ten across seating bu I found it fine, and their premium cabins are hard to beat.

The problem is supporting a smaller market, which is what Adelaide is. It's quite possible QR will survive and EK move out, alternatively EK may look at fifth freedom across the ditch tacked onto their ADL flights. One benefit Adelaide has is it lacks capacity constraints placed on the bigger cities when it comes to the IASC, that could be a game changer in the future.

[Stefan Perkas]

Evening all,

The wait is finally over, A350-900 A7-ALH is scheduled to operate the inaugural 'QR914/915' to Adelaide tomorrow

[Mark Grima]

Some reporting of the arrival

http://australianaviation.com.au/2016/05/adelaide-receives-australias-first-a350-flight/.

http://www.traveller.com.au/qatar-airways-airbus-a350-arrives-in-australia-for-the-first-time-gol5as

I'm booked on this flight in early December. Can't wait.

Cheers

M

[Greg Hyde]

Looks like Perth may get some A350 action as well

Perth named as Qatar’s next Australian A350 destination

http://australianaviation.com.au/2016/05/perth-named-as-qatars-next-australian-a350-destination/

[MarkR]

Wow, already they are reducing the service, going to 6x a week in August and September.

[Stefan Perkas]

Wow, already they are reducing the service, going to 6x a week in August and September.

Only because they are short of A350's (they are about 5 behind in delivery). They have also delayed the start of the AKL service because the -200LR's are need to cover the gaps of the A350's. Thier USA markets have also had reduction and re-shuffle of flights.

[MarkR]

Only because they are short of A350's (they are about 5 behind in delivery). They have also delayed the start of the AKL service because the -200LR's are need to cover the gaps of the A350's. Thier USA markets have also had reduction and re-shuffle of flights.

Apparently blamed on Zodiac and their loos, or lack thereof. Begs the question, in this day and age, can anyone deliver a new build without delays???