Dubai-based airline Emirates says it couldn’t be happier with the first six months of its Adelaide operations, with passenger loads running almost a third above budget.

Bookings for the period July to September are already at 86 per cent capacity compared to a budgeted 66 per cent.

Emirates’ four flights per week out of Adelaide started in November and moved to daily services in February.

In the period January to June, Emirates carried 48,176 outbound passengers and 36,720 inbound.

Emirates SA/NT district manager Paul Jury told InDaily the above-expectations performance came from some unexpected areas.

“It’s better than expected; we’re beating our target month by month and keep upgrading forecasts,” he said in a special briefing on the airlines progress to date.

“One area that’s surprised us is that we’ve been going out with around 60 per cent load in first class, very high levels in business class and above-budget loads in cargo.”

Emirates is now the only international airline operating through Adelaide with first-class suites.

“The origins and destinations have been interesting,” Jury said.

“While the UK, Italy and France are our top three destinations, number four is Switzerland and we hadn’t expected that.

“Iran and Saudi Arabia are up there as well, possibly because of the number of middle east students that are here in Adelaide and this is the first batch of holidays they’ve had since we started our daily services.”

Jury said the airline had been working hand-in-hand with the SA Tourism Commission, Business SA, Adelaide Convention Centre and the Adelaide City Council to drive up tourism numbers.

“It’s been amazing; there are South Australian billboards in Times Square and at Clapham Junction – places the SA brand hasn’t been before.

“Nigel McBride (BusinessSA CEO) was part of a push into Doha and Dubai and the Lord Mayor Steven Yarwood was pitching South Australia to a major conference in Vienna.”

Adelaide-based Jury said the new SA brand and logo was helping in the promotion of South Australia.

“Not much is known about South Australia – even where it is.

“The logo and branding fixes that; it gels the location in people’s mind and helps show where we are and what we are.

“It’s been a real boost.”

The new brand was launched by the Economic Development Board in March this year.

Jury said the increased awareness has translated into a two-way tourism trade.

“We’ve got the head of Danish tourism coming here soon and officials from Geneva and the Swiss are also coming to do a roadshow.

“That opens up the opportunity for SA to market back into those regions as well.

Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, also reported above-budget loads.

“Going out of Adelaide there is a lot of frozen meat, perishables such as fruit and veg, seafood and some sophisticated mining equipment that’s destined for Africa and the Middle East,” Jury said.

“Cargo coming in includes manufactured goods, French and Italian wine and luxury goods for hotels in Adelaide.”

One trend that has surprised the airline is the number of passengers flying to Dubai and connecting cities after starting their journey in Canberra.

“It seems that its easier to go Canberra-Adelaide-Dubai than Canberra-Sydney-Dubai. It might be just a bit longer, but it’s easier to get around Adelaide Airport than Sydney.”

While Emirates is enjoying the solid start to its Adelaide run, passengers that used to connect into Asia via Qantas flights that have since been axed may not have long to wait before Emirates takes up the slack.

“If we get a second daily flight then I would think it would be via Asia.”

The latest inbound tourism figures show a 5.5 per cent increase in international tourists, a figure expected to rise further as the Australian dollars retreats from its above-parity position.