Melbourne Airport
Melbourne Airport (IATA: MEL, ICAO: YMML), known locally as Tullamarine Airport, is the main international airport serving the city of Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria. It is the second busiest airport in Australia. The airport operates 24/7 and has on-site parking, world-class shopping and dining. The airport opened in 1970 and replaced Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is the main international airport of the four airports serving the Melbourne metropolitan area, the other international airport being Avalon Airport.
This article is about the Australian airport. For the suburb of the same name where this airport is situated, see Melbourne Airport, Victoria. For the airport in Florida, United States, see Melbourne Orlando International Airport.
The airport comprises four terminals: one international terminal, two domestic terminals and one budget domestic terminal. It is 18 kilometres (11 miles) northwest of the city centre, adjacent to the suburb of Tullamarine. The airport has its own suburb with its own postcode—Melbourne Airport, Victoria, 3045 respectively.[6] The facility presently covers 2,741 hectares (6,773 acres) of airport property, making MEL among the largest airports in Australia in terms of land area.[7]
In 2016–17 around 25 million domestic passengers and 10 million international passengers used the airport.[8] The airport features direct flights to 33 domestic destinations and to destinations in the Pacific, Europe, Asia, North America and South America. Melbourne Airport is the number one arrival/departure point for the airports of four of Australia's seven other capital cities.[a] Melbourne serves as a major hub for Qantas and Virgin Australia, while Jetstar utilises the airport as home base. Domestically, Melbourne serves as headquarters for Team Global Express and handles more domestic freight than any other airport in the nation.[10]
History[edit]
Establishment[edit]
Before the opening of Melbourne Airport, Melbourne's main airport was Essendon Airport, which was officially designated an international airport in 1950. In the mid-1950s, over 10,000 passengers were using Essendon Airport, and its limitations were beginning to become apparent. Essendon's facilities were insufficient to meet the increasing demand for air travel; the runways were too short to handle large jets, and the terminals failed to handle the increase in passengers. By the mid-1950s, an international overflow terminal was built in a new northern hangar. The airport could not be expanded, as it had become surrounded by residential districts.
The search for a replacement for Essendon commenced in February 1958, when a panel was appointed to assess Melbourne's civil aviation needs.[11] Alternative sites considered were Tullamarine (9 miles (14.5 km) from Melbourne), Whittlesea (22 miles (35.4 km)), Hastings (37 miles (59.5 km)), Port Melbourne (3 miles (4.8 km)), Werribee (20 miles (32.2 km)), Laverton (12 miles (19.3 km)), Avalon (34 miles (54.7 km)) and Moorabbin (12 miles (19.3 km)).[12] Considerations such as superior proximity to Melbourne and lower development costs narrowed the choice to either Tullamarine or Laverton, with Laverton eventually eliminated in part due to issues coordinating both military and civil activities that could not guarantee the degree of safety demanded, and that traffic coordination would be easier with the shorter distance between Essendon and Tullamarine.[12]
In 1959, the Commonwealth Government acquired 5,300 ha (13,000 acres) of grassland in then-rural Tullamarine.[13]
In May 1959 it was announced that a new airport would be built at Tullamarine, with Prime Minister Robert Menzies announcing on 27 November 1962 a five-year plan to provide Melbourne with a A$45 million "jetport" by 1967.[14][15][16][17] The first sod at Tullamarine was turned two years later in November 1964.[11] In line with the five-year plan, the runways at Essendon were expanded to handle larger aircraft, with Ansett Australia launching the Boeing 727 there in October 1964, the first jet aircraft used for domestic air travel in Australia.[18][14]
Operations[edit]
Overview[edit]
Melbourne is the second busiest airport in Australia. The airport is curfew-free and operates 24 hours a day, although between 2 am and 4 am, freight aircraft are more prevalent than passenger flights.[61] In 2004, the environmental management systems were accredited ISO 14001, the world's best practice standard, making it the first airport in Australia to receive such accreditation.[62]
Runways[edit]
Melbourne Airport has two intersecting runways: one 3,657 m (11,998 ft) north–south and one 2,286 m (7,500 ft) east–west. Due to increasing traffic, several runway expansions are planned, including an 843 m (2,766 ft) extension of the north-south runway to lengthen it to 4,500 m (14,764 ft), and a 1,214 m (3,983 ft) extension of the east–west runway to a total of 3,500 m (11,483 ft). Two new runways are also planned: a 3,000 m (9,843 ft) runway parallel to the current north–south runway and a 3,000 m (9,843 ft) runway south of the current east–west runway.[63] The current east west runway extension and new third runway were expected to cost $500–750 million with major construction originally set to begin around 2019 and be complete by 2022.[64] However, in 2019 following an extensive consultation period, Melbourne Airport unexpectedly dropped plans for a new east-west runway in favour of constructing a new parallel north-south runway to the west of the airport, citing aircraft noise concerns for residents in nearby suburbs of Gladstone Park, Westmeadows, Attwood and Jacana.[65] Although there is an additional 12–24 months of planning, Melbourne Airport Corporation anticipates the new north-south runway will be operational by 2025, with the potential to include the extension of the existing east-west runway.[66] Traffic movement was expected to reach 248,000 per annum by 2017, and existing runway capacity is expected by 2023, necessitating a third runway.[67]
On 5 June 2008, it was announced that the airport would install a Category III landing system, allowing planes to land in low visibility conditions, such as fog. This system was the first of its kind in Australia, and was commissioned March 2010 at a cost of $10 million.[68][11]
Melbourne Airspace Control Centre[edit]
In addition to the onsite control tower, the airport is home to Melbourne Centre, an air traffic control facility that is responsible for the separation of aircraft in Australia's busiest flight information region (FIR), Melbourne FIR. Melbourne FIR monitors airspace over Victoria, Tasmania, southern New South Wales, most of South Australia, the southern half of Western Australia and airspace over the Indian and Southern Ocean. In total, the centre controls 6% of the world's airspace.[69] The airport is also the home of the Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne approach facilities, which provide control services to aircraft arriving and departing at those airports.
Awards and accolades[edit]
Melbourne Airport has received numerous awards. The International Air Transport Association ranked Melbourne among the top five airports in the world in 1997 and 1998.[183][184] In 2003, Melbourne received the IATA's Eagle Award for service and two National Tourism Awards for tourism services.[185][186][187]
The airport has received recognition in other areas. It has won national and state tourism awards,[186][187] and Singapore Airlines presented the airport with the Service Partner Award and Premier Business Partner Award in 2002 and 2004, respectively.[184][188] In 2006, the airport won the Australian Construction Achievement Award for the runway widening project, dubbed "the most outstanding example of construction excellence for 2006".[189] In 2012, Parkroyal Melbourne Airport was awarded for the best airport hotel in Australia/the Pacific by Skytrax.[190] According to Skytrax World's Top 100 Airports List, Melbourne Airport has improved from ranked 43rd in 2012 to 27th in 2018.[191][192]