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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-10-19 Daily Xml
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Adelaide Airport International Flight Capacity

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (14:17): Thanks everybody! My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier please update the house on international flight capacity at Adelaide Airport?

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:17): Can I thank the member for Elder asking her question—on her 37th birthday. Was I allowed to mention the number? Is that alright?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Okay. I know the member for Elder cares about the status of our tourism sector in our state because it does employ a number of people within her electorate. I am very pleased to report that earlier today I was advised that both Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines are substantially increasing the volume of seats flying into Adelaide Airport. This is genuinely good news for our tourism sector. It comes on the back of some extraordinary growth that we have seen in the sector in our state since coming to government. The Minister for Tourism, the member for Ramsay, has been working very hard indeed and has been able to deliver some real results.

In respect of Singapore Airlines, we know this is a service that operates seven times a week: it is now moving to 11 services a week, up to twice daily on a number of flights. That is an over 50 per cent increase in the volume of capacity coming to and from Adelaide Airport internationally from Singapore Airlines alone. The second one is from the great friend of South Australia, Qatar Airways. I am very pleased to report that Qatar Airways is upgrading its service into Adelaide from an Airbus A350 to a Boeing 777. That results in a 25 per cent increase in the volume of seats coming to and from Doha into Adelaide on the back of that service. That is a big deal—a 25 per cent increase from Qatar on what is already a daily service. Qatar Airways deserve a lot of credit for this.

Qatar Airways was the principal international airline that serviced the South Australian market throughout the course of the pandemic. When other airlines went missing, Qatar continued to serve our community in a way that is wholeheartedly commendable. It was more than just the passenger traffic; it was freight as well. I would like to put on record the state government's thanks to Qatar for servicing our state during the pandemic. I hope they continue to reap the benefits of that investment at the time, which is self-evident by the fact that they are increasing their capacity on these flights.

Between Singapore Airlines and Qatar there has been a massive increase in the volume of traffic coming into our state—and why wouldn't there be? There is no shortage of attractions and events for people to come and visit our state at this time. Earlier today I was very proud to be able to publicly report that ticket sales for the Adelaide 500 are up by 6½ per cent on the same time last year. That has been driven by a few different things. The first thing is that we have a series that is exceptionally close. The last race of the year might yet determine the outcome of the Supercars Championship.

We have none other than Robbie Williams performing on the Sunday night, which will be absolutely spectacular, and we have also been able to invest in the event with new shade infrastructure being installed on Pit Straight over the course of the next couple of weeks. That means over 80 per cent of the seats on Pit Straight will now be under shade—a dramatic improvement on what we have seen in the past.

That is just the Adelaide 500. Time is up, which means I cannot speak about the other events, but these flights are coming here for a reason.

The SPEAKER: And happy birthday to the member for Elder. I am so pleased you can spend it with 47 of your very close friends. The member for Colton.

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