Helping put South Australia at the top of the holiday list for international visitors, Qatar Airways has today announced it will increase its flights into Adelaide from Doha and Auckland.
It comes as data from Adelaide Airport shows the number of weekly domestic airline seats has exceeded pre pandemic levels.
Qatar Airways will increase its Doha to Adelaide service, as well as the extension of that route – its Auckland to Adelaide service, from three to five flights weekly from July 1. With the additional flights, the carrier will operate 38 weekly flights to Australia.
“The increase in flights to Adelaide is a positive sign for the travel industry, as it signals a healthy return of travel demand post-pandemic,” Qatar Airways Vice President of Sales for Southeast Asia, Southwest Pacific & Indian Subcontinent, Jared Lee.
“It also highlights Qatar Airways’ ongoing commitment to the South Australian market to meet the booming travel demand and provide connectivity for South Australians to our wide global network.
“The Australia and New Zealand region continues to be an area of strong growth for Qatar Airways and expanding this service will support the development of the economy and tourism sector in both countries.”
Operated by a B777-300ER, the increased services aim to meet booming travel demand and provide greater connectivity for South Australia to the world.
Qatar Airways introduced the connection between Adelaide and Auckland in April when the airline moved its Auckland connection from Brisbane to Adelaide.
An extension of the airline’s service between Doha and Adelaide, the Auckland connection is improving accessibility to South Australia for New Zealand visitors – a market worth around $45 million to SA’s visitor economy pre COVID.
“It was only two months ago when Qatar Airways expanded its flight schedule into South Australia, tagging its Doha-Auckland service through Adelaide, and already, it is increasing these services to our once fourth largest international market to meet strong demand,” said Premier Peter Malinauskas.
“On top of this, we’re seeing more domestic flights being scheduled than prior to the pandemic, helping drive hotel occupancy in our CBD to the highest of any major city across Australia and New Zealand.
“More flights mean more leisure and business visitors, increased freight capacity and greater connectivity for our state to the world, helping grow jobs and our economy.”
Published airline data shows that since 23 May 2022, the total number of airline seats scheduled per week into Adelaide from interstate has been above 2019 levels.
“The service increase is great news for customers travelling from Adelaide to both Doha and Auckland. We’re excited to see further growth in our international network, and the timing of this announcement couldn’t be better with Australia qualifying for the FIFA World Cup later this year,” said Adelaide Airport Managing Director Brenton Cox.
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