News & Discussion: Adelaide Airport & Airlines

[Ho Really]

Anyone know why Etihad ETD460 was diverted to Adelaide this arvo? Heard it first and then saw the A388 fly overhead while on its way to destination Melbourne. Any pics would be great.

Cheers

[Stefan P]

Anyone know why Etihad ETD460 was diverted to Adelaide this arvo? Heard it first and then saw the A388 fly overhead while on its way to destination Melbourne. Any pics would be great.

Cheers

Was for a refuel due to experiancing unexpected head winds enroute Abu Dhabi-Melbourne. Of course there are pictures and here they are...


A6-APC by Stefan P


A6-APC by Stefan P


A6-APC by Stefan P

[Ho Really]

SUPERB! I was in the middle of my street when I heard something not usual for Adelaide and I looked up...and lo and behold coming from the west just popping out from behind the street trees comes this large winged 4-engined aircraft about to fly virtually over my head. Couldn't tell which airline it was. I thought what BA? Looking at the hard to see tail but then said no as BA has livery on the sides close to the nose. Should've realised it was Etihad, but anyway what a beauty. Thanks Stefan.

Cheers

[floplo]

An A380 could (soon?) become a regular sight in Adelaide, Emirates plans to change all of their Australia flights to it.

or at least so the CEO claims...
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/busines ... 434990795d

[mattwinter]

The Socceroos were on the diverted Etihad flight on the way from Saudi Arabia to Melbourne for their game against Japan last night apparently.

[crawf]

An A380 could (soon?) become a regular sight in Adelaide, Emirates plans to change all of their Australia flights to it.

or at least so the CEO claims...
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/busines ... 434990795d

Emirates’ Tim Clark backs A380s for all Australian flights

Emirates Airline president Tim Clark wants the Middle East carrier to fly nothing but A380 superjumbos to Australia as part of a ramp-up of its partnership with Qantas to fend off competition from other airlines.

Mr Clark — who was in Sydney after a weekend pow-wow with Qantas boss Alan Joyce at the $2300-a-night Wolgan Valley spa resort in the Blue Mountains — has doubled-down on his bet that the Airbus A380 will be the future of global aviation, saying the world’s largest passenger aircraft will continue to play an important role in connecting Australians with the rest of the world.

“We are growing capacity simply by up-gauging to the A380 and we will continue to gradually bring more and more of those in,” Mr Clark told The Australian.

“I really want to consolidate the whole product on to 380s eventually.”

Emirates has 77 flights per week to Australia from its Dubai hub and by the end of this month 49 of those will be flown with the A380 as the airline rationalises its fleet and puts more superjumbos into service.

The airline will retire its remaining Airbus A330s, A340s and Boeing 777-200ERs by the end of this month, which will leave it with a fleet consisting of A380s and Boeing 777s.

MORE: Qantas cuts meal packs
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Mr Clark said Emirates had ambitions to extend its reach in Australia by establishing new routes to secondary airports such as Darwin or Cairns, but said he first wanted all of the airline’s Australian routes to be operating with A380s.

“At the moment it is about up-gauging. There are other points that could be of interest to us later on with perhaps a twin (engine plane) but we are not there yet,” he said.

“Once we have consolidated that we can then start looking at other points. But at the moment a lot of things are in flatline. The European economy flatlined, the Asian economies have slowed and a lot of capacity has come into market which was purchased years ago. So we have to wait and see where things go and then we’ll look at other places.”

Emirates’ commitment to the A380 is at odds with most of the global airline community which is increasingly moving away from the 500-seater plane and on to smaller, more fuel-efficient and longer range twin-engine jets like Boeing’s Dreamliner and Airbus’s A350.

In August Qantas said it didn’t want the remaining eight A380s it still had on order as they didn’t fit into its strategy to focus on direct routes between smaller cities rather than larger hubs with more passengers to fill bigger planes.

But Mr Clark believes the future remains bright for the superjumbo.

“It’s absolutely critical to do what we do,” he said.

“We want them (A380s) but others for reasons best known to themselves can’t seem to make it work. I’m not saying Qantas is wrong but if it was me, I would be saying I’d like to keep them, but I’m not going to comment on how they go about their fleet planning.”

The jitters infecting global economies, threats of terror and the continued volatility of the oil price had concocted a tough operating environment for airlines, Mr Clark said.

“It’s tough at the moment, there’s no question about it and that’s not just in Australia, that’s everywhere,” he said. “So we are resetting a lot of our program design and looking at routes that are not growing at the rate we would like. So we are realigning a lot of things and the industry as a whole is going through this.”

Mr Clark said the airline was committed to strengthening its alliance with Qantas to help the airlines overcome the competitive threats in the Australian market.

“We both want to extract more value out of this partnership, to develop and grow it and look at new ways to engage with the consumer to improve the way this partnership operates,” Mr Clark said.

“Australia has become an incredibly competitive market with more and more players coming in with high-end products and very low prices. So we were talking about how the partnership can go forward in that kind of situation and improve the way it does things and bringing in new aircraft and products into the market. If you look at the things we are doing in Emirates anyway, whether it be the product or the frequent flyer program, and then look at the Qantas frequent flyer program which is huge, how we can merge all of that and extract value, that in itself is a major development for us.”

Faced with increased competition into Australia from rivals Etihad and Qatar Airways, Mr Clark said only “time would tell” if the Australian market could sustain three Gulf carriers.

“I think it will be a little bit worrying if unlimited capacity, unconstrained, was brought into the market. I’m a free marketeer, I’m a great believer in competition but there are access issues in Australia in terms of what you can take into airports like Mascot and we all have 380s that we want to bring in,” he said.

“So if you overcook capacity and oversaturate it then everybody goes south. Already we are seeing prices come right down, well below what we’ve seen in the past.”

[Maximus]

An A380 could (soon?) become a regular sight in Adelaide, Emirates plans to change all of their Australia flights to it.

Beat me to it. That's a really interesting article. I can't imagine Adelaide justifying an A380 anytime in the near future, but with Emirates you just never know.

I particularly liked the subtle sniping from Tim Clark in this quote: 'We want them (A380s) but others for reasons best known to themselves can’t seem to make it work. I’m not saying Qantas is wrong but if it was me, I would be saying I’d like to keep them, but I’m not going to comment on how they go about their fleet planning.”

[electrictechron]

An A380 could (soon?) become a regular sight in Adelaide, Emirates plans to change all of their Australia flights to it.

Beat me to it. That's a really interesting article. I can't imagine Adelaide justifying an A380 anytime in the near future, but with Emirates you just never know.

I particularly liked the subtle sniping from Tim Clark in this quote: 'We want them (A380s) but others for reasons best known to themselves can’t seem to make it work. I’m not saying Qantas is wrong but if it was me, I would be saying I’d like to keep them, but I’m not going to comment on how they go about their fleet planning.”

Adelaide isn't even capable of regular A380 service. The runway needs to be extended, maybe widened and the taxiways as well. Also, gate 18 might need an extra jetway depending on the amount of passengers.

[claybro]

An A380 could (soon?) become a regular sight in Adelaide, Emirates plans to change all of their Australia flights to it.

Beat me to it. That's a really interesting article. I can't imagine Adelaide justifying an A380 anytime in the near future, but with Emirates you just never know.

I particularly liked the subtle sniping from Tim Clark in this quote: 'We want them (A380s) but others for reasons best known to themselves can’t seem to make it work. I’m not saying Qantas is wrong but if it was me, I would be saying I’d like to keep them, but I’m not going to comment on how they go about their fleet planning.”

Qantas seems to cop a bit of flack on here, and rightly so,- they really did abandon Adelaide internationally speaking, where others have embraced it or at least given it more of a go. The part about the A380's though is not just a Qantas thing. Many of the worlds airlines are turning their backs on the A380 after the initial excitement, they are finding it not as flexible or efficient operationally as the new generation Boeings.

[rubberman]

Qantas got its 787s extremely cheaply according to all accounts. If that's the case, the economics of that will influence their operating strategy.

Similarly, I'm betting that Emirates gets a good deal on their bulk A380 purchases, which in turn determines their operational strategy.

Having said that, the 2014 Adelaide Airport Master Plan allows for facilities for handling the A380 if needed.

The plane can obviously land and take off here en route to East coast cities. So, a regular service would presumably be from Dubai etc, light on fuel coming in, and going on to MEL/SYD to refuel and then head back east.

While other airlines are rejecting the A380, Emirates is eating their lunch. The A380 is part of the strategy that seems to be working despite the "experts'" opinions.

I have to declare that I travelled from Prague to Dubai on a 380, and Emirates gave me a nice Emirates branded shopping bag. That may have influenced my opinion.

[Goodsy]

Having said that, the 2014 Adelaide Airport Master Plan allows for facilities for handling the A380 if needed.

Geez those planners 100 years ago really could see into the future

edit: damn you for fixing your mistake


anyway, the A380 related upgrades aren't due for a while

[jimbly]

A little light reading on Adelaide airport, passenger numbers etc - sadly no sign of other new overseas carriers

http://www.anna.aero/2016/10/07/adelaid ... assengers/

[OlympusAnt]

I feel we're in such an awkward spot for most airlines, right at the limit of operating range for most aircraft and also being 1 hour away from Melbourne and 2 from Sydney, where most international flights originate

[Norman]

At least we're back on an upward trajectory again

These stats are for the month of July 2016

[[Shuz]]

Is that average daily movements?