 A Virgin Blue Boeing 737 waits at the Domestic Terminal, Tullamarine - This is about the Australian airport. See Melbourne International Airport for the airport of Melbourne, Florida.
Melbourne Airport is located in the suburb of Tullamarine, Victoria, Australia, near Melbourne. It is a hub for Qantas and has the IATA Airport Code MEL.
The airport was built to replace the outdated Essendon Airport which did not have runways long enough to accomodate large aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 which began to appear in the late 1960s. It opened on 1 July 1970. Locals often refer to the airport as Tullamarine Airport or simply 'Tulla' after its location.
Melbourne Airport has three terminals, an international terminal with 14 gates and separate domestic terminals for Qantas and Virgin Blue totalling 46 gates. Recent works have been undertaken to prepare the airport for the late 2006 arrival of the double deck Airbus A380 which has been purchased by a number of airlines using the airport. This includes construction of airbridges with the ability to board both decks simultaneously to reduce turn around times. In the 2003/4 financial year 19 million passengers used Melbourne Airport and there were 165,000 aircraft movements.
Melbourne Airport has two intersecting runways. The north/south runway is 3657 metres long, the east/west 2286 metres long.
A number of Australian airports were privatised in 1997. Melbourne Airport was leased to Australia Pacific Airports Corporation, a company largely owned by a group of investment funds, for a period of fifty years. Significant refurbishment of the rather dated terminals has been undertaken since privatisation and the airport now boasts a wide array of shops and food outlets.
Recently the Victorian government investigated the construction of a heavy rail link to Melbourne Airport. Two options were considered, one branching off the Broadmeadows suburban line and another branching off the Albion goods line at two possible locations with the latter being the preferred option. Passenger numbers were not considered sufficient to justify the project and construction was deferred for at least ten years. The existing Skybus service was improved to compensate and remains the only available public transport to the airport.
Here is a list of airlines that serve Melbourne Airport:
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