[3]: p 25 First established in 1955, a new dual international/domestic terminal was opened in 2005 which has received numerous awards, including being named the world's second-best international airport (5–15 million passengers) in 2006.

[10] An alternative site at Port Adelaide, including a seaplane facility, was considered inferior and too far from the central business district.

[11] Construction began and flights commenced in 1954, with Parafield Airport being turned into a private and military aviation facility.

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.

[13] As at December 2023, the shareholders of Adelaide Airport Limited were UniSuper (51%), Hostplus (15%), IFM Investors (15%), Igneo Infrastructure Partners (15%) and Perron Group (4%).

In October 2006, the new terminal was named the Capital City Airport of the Year at the Australian Aviation Industry Awards in Cairns.

[23] On 11 October 2022, it was discovered that at around 10am local time, security screening equipment had failed half an hour earlier, leading to the evacuation of the terminal and re-screening of approximately 2,000 passengers.

[2] In July 2020, Emirates, China Southern and Cathay Pacific announced their suspension of services to Adelaide Airport due to travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

[30] In December 2021, Qantas launched a direct non-stop service from Adelaide to New Delhi, mainly as a stopover for flights to Sydney and Melbourne due to a shortage of Boeing 787 aircraft at the time.

In order to achieve this the airport is planning a significant expansion of its current facilities to cater for more international flights.

A combination of factors, the most notable of which was the collapse of Ansett Australia, then a duopoly domestic carrier with Qantas, and the resultant loss of funds for its share of the construction cost, saw the new terminal plans shelved until an agreement was reached in 2002.

[citation needed] The new terminal was opened on 7 October 2005 by the Prime Minister John Howard and South Australian Premier Mike Rann.

However, Adelaide Airport Limited announced soon afterwards that only international flights would use the new facility immediately due to problems with the fuel pumps and underground pipes.

These problems related initially to the anti-rusting agent applied to the insides of the fuel pumps, then to construction debris in the pipes.

[39] In February 2011, a A$100 million building program was launched as part of a five-year master plan, including a new road network within the airport, a multi-storey car park, increasing short-term parking spaces from 800 to 1,650 (completed August 2012[40]); a new plaza frontage for the passenger terminal (completed March 2013[citation needed]); a walkway bridge connecting new car park and existing terminal building (completed March 2013[citation needed]); terminal concourse extension; three new aerobridges; terminal commercial projects and passenger facilities; relocation of regional carrier Rex.

[43] In January 2015, the Adelaide Airport Master Plan 2014 was approved by the Commonwealth Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development.

[48] In early 2020, Adelaide Airport opened a newly updated concourse which was finished in December 2019,[49] New Shops include Penfolds Wine Bar & Kitchen, Precinct Adelaide Kitchen, Soul Origin, Boost Juice, Lego Kaboom and Airport Pharmacy.

[50] A world-first project that lowers runway temperatures by growing commercial crops irrigated by recycled water was trialled at Adelaide Airport, with the first trial completed in 2019.

Not only was the lucerne the best performer compared with tall fescue, couch grass and kikuyu, but it can also be cut into hay and sold as stock feed.

[76] Routes J1[77] and J2[78] operate between the northern and the western and southern suburbs, via the CBD and airport – popular areas such as Westfield Tea Tree Plaza, Glenelg and Harbour Town are serviced.