Melbourne's Second Airport's First International Flight Takes Off

Tried to use Avalon after a trip down the Great Ocean Road to get to Sydney as next stop on my travels. Unfortunately the inbound Jetstar flight couldn’t land after 4 attempts due to wind sheer. Ended up diverting to Tullamarine, and we were eventually bused over. It seemed a pretty quiet terminal (domestic), but with an ok cafe.

Cebu already operates flights to Melbourne Tullamarine.

This blog used to be too US-centric... odd that now it's way too Australia centric

Not sure how big the subsidies are, Air AsiaX is carrying out a threat it made to ditch Tullamarine if Tulla didn’t drop its fees.

The other thing working in Avalon’s favour now vs when it opened is the massive gowth in places like Altoona meadows, hoppers crossing, Caroline springs and the whole of wets Melbourne. Lots of new housing new families and lots of them with Asian backgrounds. This may end up being a smart move for Air Asia X.

@ John -- that was news to me! I thought I knew all the airlines at MEL. Sure enough they've just started flights a few months ago.

Post updated. Cheers.

Imma be real honest here and say that I have used this airport, but only because my friend accidentally booked our flights out of it instead of MEL.

Both the Uber driver and I were quite unimpressed with the mistake, especially given the $5 AUD price difference $80 AUD cab ride. But it did allow me to make fun of her prodigiously for it.

There are a very small number of regional flights that operate from Melbourne Essendon too.

Until I visited Melbourne I was starting to think there was an Australian law that domestic and international terminals needed to be miles apart. Syndey is the most absurd charging for a train ride between terminals.

I love the flying experience out of Australian domestic terminals, though, kind of what Americans are nostalgic for 30 years ago in gentility, though probably never really was in the US.

I have an international flight connecting in Sydney to Brisbane. Nothing on the ticket or anything else from Qantas indicates that there is an intenational-domestic terminal transfer train required. When you fly BA through LHR-GAT they clearly indicate a terminal change at my cost (well since 1990's (before that was free)).

Thanks for the heads up. Perhaps flying J it will be included ;-(

@Azamarall - Qantas and Virgin Australia has international transfer counters and shuttles for their same-day connecting passengers, you won't need to go to the public train.

I’m back in Melbourne for a few months (UK/NL-based) and cannot believe the state of MEL airport, it’s a total mess, at breaking point, and needs a complete re-think.

Meanwhile, discussing with locals, we are hoping/predicting that AVV will emerge as a proper second airport for Melbourne. A dedicated rail link and increased infrastructure will be needed but watch this space! I really hope this happens as Melbourne will need it in the future. (I also hope that there isn’t the same airline/domestic-international divide between terminals as there is elsewhere here).

Am I still on OMAAT? This seems irrelevant compared to the content we usually see on this blog.

I thought Jetstar was already operating direct international flights to Queenstown (ZQN), New Zealand from Avalon.

@ Art - no, Jetstar only operate domestically from Avalon.

Thanks for the update James! Great article. It's always good to see another international option for getting to Melbs. I had considered flying from Avalon because I thought the parking might be cheaper. But parking is actually about the same price as Tullamarine despite being in the middle of nowhere.

Bear in mind that this airport doesn't have any lounges either.

@James there are some advantages to using Avalon that you didn't mention in your article. Firstly as there aren't many flights using the airport everyday, there is never any wait to land or take-off. Second there is never a long queue or wait to get through security. Thirdly unlike Tullamarine, driving to Avalon is toll free, and the drive time at certain times of the day is probably the same as to Tullamarine anyway.

@SH simple solution, don't read the article if it is of no interest to you!

Drive times to Avalon and Tullamarine can be quite similar and I can park right in front of the terminal in Avalon for the price of long term parking in MEL. And have a way shorter walk.
It doesn't have any shopping though.

Great article, James - nice to see some variety of topics on here! Never used Avalon but totally agree re location - for friends in Mornington it's a massive hike round just to get to MEL - even outside the EK free transfer zone, they have to pay extra! Also a shame there's no train service. SkyBus is fine but very vulnerable to traffic impact.

Is MEL closer to the centre of Melbourne than AVV because you hardly mentioned it so it’s hard to tell.

@ChrisC yes Tullamarine is 23km from the city centre whereas Avalon is 50km away.

Ivan - where is your sense of humour?

It was mentioned - unnecessarily in my view - several times in the article as some implied criticism. Once as a statement of fact is fine but not when the same point was made ad nauseam

Flew domestically out of Avalon, and the price difference was quite substatial, but not substantial enough to attract those who arent penny pinching like me.

Anyway, the Skybus was convenient.. I just boarded a later bus that would have me at the airport 40 minutes before my flight, but surprise surprise, the bus took longer than advertised even with minimal traffic.

But i like the airport though—reminded me of kuala lumpur’s old low cost terminal.. barebones but gets the job quickly. I was in the plane 5 minutes upon arriving at the door.

Would definitely fly off it again.

When I read the title, I thought the article was about the real 2nd airport in Melbourne and that is Essendon.

Interesting article about Avalon airport.
I knew it as Avalon airfield back in 1992 when I worked there for ASTA(Aerospace Technologies of Austrailia)
Great to see they are breathing new life into the place. Hope it takes off. Sorry couldn’t resist they pun..
Good luck to all Geelong guys.