Adelaide Airport braces for traveller influx on Friday as school holiday rush begins

The school holiday rush has started, with 100,000 passengers expected to pass through Adelaide Airport this weekend – the most in three years. Here’s what travellers need to know.

The school holiday rush has begun at the Adelaide Airport with thousands of travellers joining the long queues at security checkpoints before their flight on Friday morning.

The airport has managed to withstand the peak-hour pressure on what is expected to be the busiest day since before the Covid-19 pandemic, with more than 30,000 passengers expected to pass through the terminal.

“Adelaide Airport is very busy this morning as expected but the lines for check in and security have been moving well, and all of our security lanes are open,” an airport spokesman said.

“We thank our customers for heeding the message to arrive early, and for being patient and courteous towards our staff who are working hard to get them on to their flight and off on holidays.”

People, culture and terminals executive general manager Dermot O’Neill said there had been four departure flights cancelled on Friday.

“My understanding is they were cancelled yesterday, so airlines have been contacting their passengers in advance about those flights,” he said.

More than 100,000 passengers are expected to stream through the gates of Adelaide Airport in the four days from Friday to Monday, its busiest weekend since before Covid hit.

Mr O’Neill said all available resources would be used across the school holidays in a bid to reduce delays, but travellers should allow two hours before departure for domestic flights and three hours for international.

We’ve been anticipating the level of pent up demand that we’re going to see across this school holiday period, so we’ve had additional staff on hand and that certainly helped the airport flow well this morning,” he said.

Arrival at the airport on Thursday was made difficult when a truck crashed on South Rd, near Richmond Rd, strewing up to 2000 glass bottles on the busy street.

While long queues and short delays are likely, passengers will be hopeful their plane gets off the ground after Wednesday’s flight schedule was thrown into chaos.

ROLLING COVERAGE: Everything you need to know if you’re travelling by car or plane these school holidays.

A total 13 inbound and outbound flights were cancelled on Wednesday alone – seven with Virgin, five with Jetstar and one with Qantas.

They were six Melbourne flights, three Sydney flights, two Brisbane flights and one each departing to Perth and Darwin.

Among those affected were the South Australian under-19 and under-23 state volleyball teams, who were scheduled to fly into Sydney for Thursday’s Australian Junior Volleyball Championships.

Volleyball SA general manager Karla Della Pietra said the team received a text at 7am informing them their flight had been rescheduled to 2.30pm on Thursday – halfway through the competition.

Ms Della Pietra said the team worked frantically to try and arrange another flight, with athletes waiting at Adelaide Airport until 2.30pm for an answer.

Young SA volleyball champions were left in the lurch after their flight to Sydney was cancelled. Picture: 7 NEWS

The team was eventually put on to a 6am flight on Thursday morning.

“The young athletes aren’t used to this type of competition so preparation is really key … missing out on their training day and preparation for that environment is a really big miss, but at least they’ll be there,” Ms Della Pietra said.

Amber-Lee Witt, her husband Ben and their two children, Jaxon, 10, and Sophie, 6, were due to fly to Darwin on Wednesday night for her cousin’s wedding, but were left devastated when they found out the Jetstar flight was cancelled.

The couple said they only found out about the cancellation through a text and, by the time they managed to contact Jetstar, were told there were no more flights available until next week.

Mrs Witt was supposed to do the bride’s hair for the event, but is instead now ringing to find a last-minute replacement.

Amber-Lee and Ben Witt's children, Sophie, 6, and Jaxon, 10, are devastated to be missing their school holiday adventure.

“We’re just devastated, our accommodation and car hire was paid for … I asked to go from any city in the whole of Australia, but we couldn’t get on a flight anyway,” Mrs Witt said.

Jetstar apologised for the “frustration and disruption” caused by the cancellation and has since placed Mrs Witt and her family on a replacement flight on Friday night.

A Jetstar spokesman said the airline had been battling operational issues affecting flights to and from the NT.

“We are working with our Northern Territory partners and stakeholders to explore every option to minimise the impact to customers’ journeys,” he said.

“Customers who have been impacted by the schedule changes are being offered a range of options, including a refund.”

An Adelaide Airport spokesman urged travellers to check in with their airlines ahead of departure time as end-of-term chaos sets in, with more cancellations likely.

Passengers at Adelaide Airport are being warned to brace for delays and cancellations as school holidays arrive. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe