History
The first Adelaide airport was an aerodrome constructed in 1921 on 24 ha (59 acres) of land in Hendon. The small facility allowed for a mail service between Adelaide and Sydney. To meet the substantial growth in aviation, Parafield Airport was developed in 1927. By 1947, the demand on aviation had outgrown Parafield and the current site of Adelaide Airport was selected at West Torrens (now West Beach). Construction began and flights commenced in 1954.
An annexe to one of the large hangars at the airport served as a passenger terminal until the Commonwealth Government provided funds for the construction of a temporary building. International services became regular from 1982 upon the construction of an international terminal. A new dual-use $260 million facility replaced both the original 'temporary' domestic and international terminals in 2005. Many have said the new terminal is grossly overbuilt, while others suggest it is well placed to capture future growth.
In October 2006, the new terminal was named the Capital City Airport of the Year at the Australian Aviation Industry Awards in Cairns. In March 2007, Adelaide Airport was rated the world's second best airport in the 5–15 million passengers category at the Airports Council International (ACI) 2006 awards in Dubai.
Plans were announced for an expansion of the terminal in July 2007, including more aerobridges and demolition of the old International Terminal.
On 5 August 2008 Tiger Airways Australia confirmed that Adelaide Airport would become the airline's second hub which would base two of the airline's Airbus A320s by early 2009. On 29 October 2009 Tiger announced it would be housing its third A320 at Adelaide Airport from early 2010. Tiger Airways has since shut down its Adelaide base.
The airport encountered major problems during the eruption of Puyehue volcano in Chile, the ash cloud caused flights to be cancelled nationwide, with over 40,000 passengers being left stranded in Adelaide.
Read more about this topic: Adelaide Airport
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