Melbourne Airport

:This is about the Australian airport. See Melbourne International Airport for the airport of Melbourne, Florida.

Related Topics:
Melbourne International Airport - Melbourne, Florida

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Melbourne Airport {{Airport codes|MEL|YMML}} is located to the north of the city, adjacent to the suburb Tullamarine, Victoria, Australia. The airport covers ground separate to Tullamarine, the area carries its own postcode and the locality name Melbourne Airport. It is a hub for Australian airline Qantas.

Related Topics:
Suburb - Tullamarine - Victoria - Australia - Airport - Postcode - Airline - Qantas

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The airport was built to replace the nearby, outdated Essendon Airport, which did not have runways long enough to accommodate large aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 which began to appear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.

Related Topics:
Airport - Essendon Airport - Boeing 747 - McDonnell Douglas DC-10 - 1960s - 1 July - 1970

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Melbourne Airport has three terminals. The international terminal (T2) has 14 gates. The two domestic terminals, T1 used exclusively by Qantas and its Jetstar subsidiary, and the multi-user T3 primarily used by Virgin Blue have 46 gates between them. In the 2004-05 financial year nearly 21 million passengers used Melbourne Airport. In 2003-04 there were 165,000 aircraft movements, the vast majority (140,000) being domestic passenger services. The airport is curfew free and operates 24 hours a day, although in practice there are few aircraft movements between midnight and 4 a.m.

Related Topics:
Terminals - Jetstar - Virgin Blue - 2004 - 05 - 2003

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Melbourne Airport has two intersecting runways. The north/south runway (designated 16/34) is 3,657 metres long, the east/west (9/27) is 2,286 metres long.

Related Topics:
Runway - Metre

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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. These include construction of aerobridges with the ability to board both decks simultaneously to reduce turn around times and widening of the north/south runway by 15 metres.

Related Topics:
2006 - Airbus A380 - Aerobridge

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A number of Australian airports were privatised in 1997 including Melbourne Airport which was leased to the Australia Pacific Airports Corporation, a company largely owned by a group of infrastructure 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.

Related Topics:
Privatised - 1997 - Leased - Australia Pacific Airports Corporation - Infrastructure - Investment fund

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In 2001 the state government investigated the construction of a heavy rail link to Melbourne Airport. Two options were considered, one branching off the Broadmeadows suburban line to the east, and another branching off the Albion goods line from the south, 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 service to the airport direct from Melbourne.

Related Topics:
2001 - State government - Rail - Broadmeadows suburban line

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