Adelaide Airport

We have only used the domestic terminal at Adelaide but found it very light spacious and clean with good facilities. A nice experience.

Arrival international still just as bad as the old terminal. Forty minutes for luggage to arrive on carousel. Overzealous customs staff repeatedly asking questions to same passengers including myself and travel partner due to us waiting 40 minutes for our luggage and foregetting who they spoke to! Queues for the exiting customs x-ray too long and with trolleys became disorderly and many impatient people pushing in or not joining the queue. Complete lack of on ground staff besides customs to direct passengers.

The long term carpark is an absolute aberration apology signs everywhere saying there is no more room the payment machines dont work and there are no boom gate staff. Add to that the fact that you have to go to Departures to pick up the Arrivals shuttle bus otherwise you have to negotiate traffic roundabouts landscaping etc to find your way to and from the car park in the event that you can not find the bus - millions spent on the airport and the long term carpark is something out of Fawlty Towers.

Had my first experience travelling on a regional airline from the new Adelaide terminal. It would seem that when they designed the new terminal they forgot about the regional air passengers. The departure "gates" for both the regional airlines are situated at the extreme end of the terminal requiring a fair walk although you can enjoy for part of the way a 50metre travelator (though not sure it works). When boarding you have to be escorted by the flight crew down a number of stairs to the exit for boarding. Regional air passengers returning to Adelaide airport again have to be escorted by the co-pilot to the terminal building through a concrete passageway then go through airport security and return to the upper level departure area through a door that is well away from the designated arrival area shown on the monitors to depart the terminal. Interstate passengers have to walk down two ramps to the aircraft and it would seem for speedier boarding passengers seated at the rear of the aircraft are directed to walk across the the tarmac to the rear steps of the aircraft. A procedure no different from the old terminal. Adelaide airport had a great opportunity to build a 21st century air terminal it would seem the opportunity was taken up!

There have been many complaints by regional passengers about the new Adelaide terminal. Long walk up and down stairs and through long claustrophobic metal walkways which are not airconditioned and flood in wet weather. REX (regional express) is in a big fight with Adelaide airport management about this and has threatened to move back to old domestic terminal. REX have also proposed bussing arriving passengers to the old international terminal but Adelaide airport wont let them! All regional councils in South Australia are demanding Adelaide airport does something quickly to fix the situation. Until then strongly suggest that unless you are young and fit avoid flying regionally through Adelaide!

My first visit to the new Adelaide airport and what an improvement on the old one. The only thing I found to be annoying was that there is no Qantas Club in the international Lounge and I could be wrong but I could find no monitor relating to international flights in the domestic Qantas Club. I assume that there is no QC in the International lounge because there are not a lot of international flights. Other than that very nice and spacious with plenty of views of the airport and city. A big improvement.

The new Adelaide Airport Terminal opened on 7th February not a moment too soon after several months of delays due to a contaminated refuelling system. The new terminal integrates regional domestic and international flights all in the same building. The new design is light and airy with floor to ceiling windows along the southern side gate lounges. These boast outstanding views to the Adelaide Hills and city undoubtedly the highlight of the building. The terminal also boasts fourteen Spanish built aerobridges the first of their kind in Australia and the first aerobridges to be used by domestic passengers in Adelaide. All in all an excellent new terminal that will provide a great new gateway to South Australia

The new Adelaide terminal in finally open and a lot better than the old domestic and tragic international terminals. This new terminal is well sign posted and easy to get around. There are a few tenancies still being filled. Checking in is painless as is collection of luggage when arriving. Overall a vast improvement of the pervious terminals.

What a missed opportunity! After all the hype leading up to it's official opening it was disappointing to use the new Adelaide terminal for the first time last week. The "International Arrival experience" is just as frustrating as it was in the "old tin shed'. It took 40 minutes to clear immigration with further queues for customs checks. I realise that Adelaide is not a major international destination but surely some extra capacity could have been built in the new terminal's design.

I love the old-fashioned feel of Adelaide's domestic terminal specially getting out of the plane and finding myself in fresh air at last. This is all going to change I'm afraid when the ubiquitous airbridges are installed making arriving in Adelaide the same as arriving anywhere else. It isn't so long ago that they had a cattle grid at the entrance to the car park! The international terminal is simply vile at present (April 2005). A huge queue at the check-in section even though all counters were operating - a total of about 10 altogether. Could they be just terribly inefficient in Adelaide? Or super-security conscious? Arrival back at the international terminal is similarly dreadful: exhausted pax who have hung around at Darwin or Sydney for a few hours in the middle of the night have to wait in another very slow queue with those hard to steer trolleys . Let's hope all this improves when the new terminal is completed at the end of 2005! Personnel there are amazingly friendly and cheerful given the difficult working conditions that they have to put up with. And the airport is really close to the city a big plus these days.