Avalon to be Melbourne's 2nd Int. Airport

[NickN]

From today's Telegraph:

MELBOURNE, Australia's second largest city, is to get something Sydney's talked and talked about since the 1940s - a second international airport.

Avalon will become Melbourne's second international airport with Federal and State Government agencies set to sign off on a $50million terminal.
Linfox Aviation, which controls the former military airport under a 99-year lease, is confident Avalon International will son be handling one million passengers a year.

David Fox, executive chairman of the company, said up to five overseas airlines had shown interest in using Avalon as a gateway to Melbourne.

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One of the carriers is the Indian discounter Kingfisher Airlines, which operates 218 domestic and long-haul flights a day out of Bangalore.

Jetstar also is being courted to use Avalon for its New Zealand services.

"We've been getting out and talking to airlines across Asia," Mr Fox said.

"They responded very positively when we pointed out the cost advantage we are offering over Melbourne Airport."

He said airlines that landed at Avalon would be charged a landing fee of $1per passenger compared with up to $10 at other major airports.

Mr Fox unveiled a model of the single-storey terminal at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon yesterday.

He said the terminal could be built within 12 months once Linfox gained approval from Federal and State Governments.

He said Linfox Aviation was "80per cent certain" both governments would sign off on the project.

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said major works would need to be done at the airport before international passenger flights could begin.

"It needs to have an international terminal infrastructure - Customs, swing gates," he said.

The only other barrier to Jetstar international flights through Avalon would be connections to other airports.

Currently, Jetstar only flies to Sydney and Brisbane out of Avalon.

Mr Fox said an international terminal would handle up to three million passengers are year once it was established.

He said it would create up to 3000 jobs when fully operational.

An earlier attempt to build the terminal was blocked by the Defence Department and State Government planners.

Mr Fox's father Lindsay Fox, who heads the entire Linfox group, last year slammed bureaucrats for holding up the project.

"I wanted to make Avalon an international airport, and the bureaucracy slowed the whole process down to a dead stop," he said in November.

"Today it's no longer viable. That was bureaucracy."

Yesterday Lindsay Fox was confident the project would finally get the green light.

He said regional development would follow once international services began.

"You imagine what will happen if Avalon becomes an international airport," he said.

"Everything between Avalon and Geelong will build up residentially and everything between Avalon and Werribee will build up residentially."

Asked when work would start, he said: "When the economy turns ... or not without help from the Federal and State Governments."

[Justin L]

A photo of the proposed Avalon International terminal can be viewed here.

[Rhys Xanthis]

5 international airlines...I wonder?

Air Asia X for sure.
The others not as easy to guess...JQ?

[NickN]

Kingfisher airlines showing interest is a very interesting development. However services to India are already under stress due to poor loads so who knows if they will actually fly here.

[Andrew P]

Originally Posted by Rhys Xanthis

5 international airlines...I wonder?

Air Asia X for sure.
The others not as easy to guess...JQ?

Cebu Pacific ???

Nov 2008 Iyog said Cebu Pacific now eyes to add flights to Australasia and Oceania from North Asia

Banjo

[NickN]

Tiger?

Asia direct to MEL?

[Mark Grima]

If savings are truely $9.00 per head over MEL then I would expect JQ to move all their international business to AVV. Why wouldn't they?

Cheers

M

[Owen H]

For a few reasons.

Jetstar rely heavily on Qantas' domestic codesharing that they wouldn't want to relocate to AVV.

They claim low cost carrier status but they don't use the low cost carrier terminal in Singapore, instead using the main terminal. They also use the aerobridges in many ports, instead of using the cheaper stand off bays.

This is just Lindsay Fox trying to get a few more pennies. He made Avalon airport prohibative for years, and has now decided he wants to make a few dollars. It is miles from the city, and has very bad transport links to anywhere. Not what your average international customer wants to deal with. He'll get a few carriers operating in there, and then jack up the prices to compare with Melbourne anyway. He is a ruthless businessman, not someone trying to do this for altruistic reasons.

After all, there is a good reason Jetstar only have 2 flights from there... because no-one is prepared to pay the extra $100 in transport it costs to get to and from Avalon compared to Melbourne. Avalon is a regional airport for Geelong, and without a good rail link (which the Victorian government will never provide... they have shown no willingness to invest in rail at all) it can never be a reasonable alternative to Melbourne.

Personally, I think that Melbourne's second airport (or third airport) will need to go on the EAST of Melbourne, where the vast majority of the population live. But Australian governments are as bad as the current CEO's... no vision past about 5 years.