Easter: Melbourne Airport welcomes international and Australian tourists
Melbourne Airport is set to welcome back flyers in numbers not seen since pre-Covid as millions takes advantage of the Easter break.
North West
Don't miss out on the headlines from North West. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Millions of travellers are expected to flock to Melbourne Airport during the Easter break with domestic travel back at pre-Covid levels.
Melbourne Airport estimates more than 2.1m passengers will use the airport between April 5 and 25 — a 30 per cent jump over last year’s figures and close to 95 per cent of the numbers recorded in 2019.
Vivek Perera, Malith Gunasekara and Adrian Veerasingham returned to the state just in time for Easter after a trip away to Japan.
“Definitely needed a break, especially after working full time so it’s good to have this break as well to celebrate with family and friends and relax,” Mr Veerasingham said.
“It was good, especially because the rules have relaxed with Covid and all that and because we’ve all got the vaccines we were able to move freely with no hiccups so it was really good.
“Japan was definitely a good experience, I’d definitely recommend it.”
With flights back to their regular levels, the trio have plenty of destinations in mind.
“We’re planning to travel again later this year, we’re just really looking forward to being able to travel again,” Mr Perera said.
The increase in travellers comes on the back of the relaxation of restrictions and the return of some major international airlines in recent months.
Australia’s newest airline Bonza launched its first Melbourne flight last week with Tullamarine being its only capital city base.
It’s predicted about 1.5 million domestic travellers and more than 635,000 international tourists will past through the airport over the two-week Easter break.
The airport has filled more than 1000 roles to handle the rush after it was revealed that more than 2000 roles were available earlier this year.
“We have supported the efforts of airlines, ground handling companies and contractors across the entire airport to recruit to fill vacancies,” Melbourne Airport’s chief of aviation Jim Parashos said.
“One of our biggest challenges has been baggage handling, and companies have filled around 1000 roles over the past few months, so we don’t expect to have significant issues over the holidays.
“We know this is an exciting but busy time, so we ask people to be patient and respectful as the team works to get you where you need to be as quickly and safely as possible.”
Dream start: Young Roo hops into cricket season with stunning stats
A rising Greenvale Kangaroos star, fresh off a dominant winter, has made a stunning start to his summer. He provides the reasons for his form and all the top performers from round 1 of the under-18 premier competition.
$80k trail of destruction by alleged thief
An Altona North man has been accused of leaving a trail of $80,000 worth of property damage after an alleged crime spree across Melbourne’s western suburbs.