Adelaide Airport is the fifth busiest in the country, with over seven million passenger movements per year, and a DEC of about $1.6 billion in 2011. This is projected to increase to $2.7 billion in 2031. The airport's master plan446 projects growth in passenger movements to more than 13 million by 2029. The airport has sufficient capacity to accommodate this increase. Adelaide Airport passenger traffic contributed $1.94 billion (around 2.1 per cent of Gross State Product) to the SA economy in 2011.447
The total DEC of all airports in SA is projected to grow from $1.68 billion in 2011 to $2.85 billion in 2031, a 69 per cent rise.
Table 78: South Australia airport passenger and freight volumes - 2013-14
| Revenue passenger (No.) | International Freight (tonnes) | ||||||
Airport | Domestic (incl. Regional) Airlines | International Airlines | Total passengers | Total as % of national total | Inbound | Outbound | Total | Total as % of national total |
Adelaide | 6,670,866 | 906,523 | 7,577,389 | 5.17% | 10,201 | 9,602 | 19,083 | 0.09% |
Port Lincoln | 187,702 | 0 | 187,702 | 0.13% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00% |
Source: BITRE (2014)
As with all other states and territories in Australia, regional airports in SA play a vital role in connecting communities and in providing access to Adelaide and regional centres for essential services. These air services and airports play an essential role in the state's resource and mining industry, by providing essential and reliable fly-in/ fly-out services to mining and resource companies.
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446. Adelaide Airport (2014a), p. 34
447. Adelaide Airport (2014b)