I dont think they will have an issue, must be a lot of ADL folk that would like one hop to Europe that does not involve singapore.
I'm originally from Adelaide and the international services have always been a joke despite the fact ADL is arguably the best airport in Australia. There is a billboard inside the airport that proudly boasts 'you can now fly direct from Adelaide to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Auckland
and Denpasar'.
That's it.
Auckland is, I think, once a week, Hong Kong is via MEL and Denpasar is not daily. Not exactly a plethora of choices. When flying East (i.e. the Americas and the Pacific) it's a given in Adelaide you will probably transit through Sydney. When I was a kid flying QF ADL-LHR, naturally QF routed us through SYD. In terms of population, PER is not that much bigger than ADL and ADL likes to think theyre pretty much on par with PER in a lot of things but PER has what, 3 times the number of intl flights and destinations that ADL does?
When heading to Europe or North Asia, the SQ daily (going to double daily) is EXTREMELY popular in ADL and Im guessing this is what the Emirates decision was based on. Adelaidians dont like transiting through SYD anymore than anyone else does.
However, the flight timings seem bizarre. ALL international flights (except the additional SQ daily) arrive early/mid morning and depart late morning/early afternoon. It's rare to see an international plane after 3pm. I'm certain the airport curfew is currently 10.30pm. I assume given the SA government paid Emirates to come to Adelaide they are giving some leniency with the curfew but even if they extended the curfew to 11.30pm (which given it would be extended to accommodate the take off of the largest aircraft to ever operate flights from ADL would anger local residents!), a 46 minute delay would mean they miss curfew. Not to mention keeping the entire airport open for 1 flight (I believe the final domestic flight each day is the 9.30 JQ to MEL?). It's great for locals because it means they can work that day then catch the last flight out of ADL to DXB and I'm sure there is a rational connection reason for such a late departure but surely a 7pm arrival - 9pm departure giving them a few hours of 'fat' to play with for the curfew would have been far more logical? That being said, EK have operated their 2.40am MEL-DXB for years. I can't think of a worse flight time but I guess theres a reason why it still operates.
I think the Emirates flight will be
very popular with Adelaidians going to Europe (like my parents who currently fly Emirates from ADL via PER or MEL). I guess for incoming tourists they would be connecting mainly from Europe - SA's only real tourism is wine and I can't imagine UAE Muslim's coming half-way across the globe to indulge in that....
