Qatar and Singapore dramatically expand Adelaide Airport flights

Two airlines will dramatically expand capacity for Adelaide flights, Premier Peter Malinauskas has revealed.

Adelaide will have more international flights from the end of October when Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines dramatically expand capacity.

Premier Peter Malinauskas on Thursday revealed Singapore would move from a daily service to 11 flights per week – a 50 per cent seat capacity increase.

Qatar would expand seat capacity on Adelaide flights by 71 passengers, or 25 per cent, by switching aircraft from an Airbus A350 to a Boeing 777.

Singapore’s expansion will start from late October with a 34-seat-per-flight capacity increase, then switch to a seasonal increase from daily flights to 11 weekly between December and January.

Aircraft on the tarmac at Adelaide Airport. Picture supplied by South Australian Tourism Commission.

Speaking at the VAILO Adelaide 500 racetrack to mark the arrival of a huge new shade structure, Mr Malinauskas argued the state government’s major events focus was yielding more aircraft seats, bigger and better events, more tourists and extra jobs and cash for South Australian businesses.

“This means a lot more seats are travelling to and from our state to represent the fact that we’ve got all this extra activity, we’re investing in major events, we’re investing in our tourism offering,” he said.

“So we see all that extra additional economic activity coming for South Australian jobs at a time our economy is already running pretty hot.”

The announcement of extra flights follows VietJet committing to Adelaide services from November 21 and Batik Air Indonesia starting Indonesian services on November 8, adding to Malaysian operations.

Batik will be Adelaide Airport’s first international carrier serving multiple direct destinations.

REX will start an inaugural Brisbane service on October 30.

Originally published as Qatar and Singapore dramatically expand Adelaide Airport flights