Routes Asia Opens To Press Questions

Routes Asia officially opened this morning (Monday 19^th April), with Adelaide airport’s managing director, Phil baker and Jo Podoliak from destination development at South Australia Tourism Commission (SATC) among the local panel taking questions from press.

Adelaide’s response to Iceland’s volcanic eruption stimulated a lot of interest from journalists. Baker told them: “This impacts airports as well as airlines, but aviation always bounces back and it won’t stop people wanting to fly.”

Questions around key policy areas for Adelaide airport were also posed, including balancing its international expansion plans with the current operating curfew laws and managing airport charges.

Around air service development, Baker said that this year’s Routes event is more about bringing delegates under one roof and seeing what Adelaide has to offer, rather than a quick fix to developing the airport’s currently small number of international routes: “While we are convinced that in the next few years there will be a number of new carriers here, persuading them to start service is a tough ask and can take years.” He added: “We are working hard to get over some of the impressions people have to visit other cities first, such as Melbourne or Sydney. This is a very strong market and we need to break through this perception.” It was also announced that Adelaide has just broken through the 7 million annual passenger level.

Nigel Mayes, managing director of the route development group (RDG) shared the news that this year’s routes Asia represents the largest ever delegation, despite 12 delegates being unable to attend due to the current situation in Europe. “We are about to finalise numbers but we expect a showing of around 450 delegates – including 92 from 62 airlines and a further 170 airports that are being represented.” Gerard Brown, international business development director, RDG added that the numbers take the 8^th Routes Asia event to a “new level.”