Essendon Airport to get new name and $3m terminal upgrade

MELBOURNE’S second airport in Essendon will be upgraded and renamed as part of a major revamp.

ESSENDON AIRPORT is to be renamed and its main terminal will get a $3 million upgrade as part of a major revamp of the site.

The private airport, owned by the Fox and Beck families, will be now known as Essendon Fields Airport.

ESSENDON AIRPORT CURFEW CHANGES COULD ALLOW PLANES TO LAND LATE AT NIGHT

PRIVATE JET BASE COMING TO MELBOURNE AIRPORT

The air operations are now home to 50 corporate jets but also has four airlines servicing eight regional destinations.

Artist's impression of the renovated terminal at Essendon Fields Airport. Pic: Supplied.

The terminal, built in 1959, will receive a major facelift, to be completed next year, including new check-in and passenger screening as well as a new cafe.

The terminal will have the capacity to handle up to 200,000 passengers a year.

The growing Essendon Fields precinct has more than 200 businesses, including two supermarkets and the Hyatt Place Hotel.

Artist's impression of the renovated terminal at Essendon Fields Airport. Pic: Supplied.

Essendon Fields chief executive Chris Cowan said it was the airport’s fifth name.

It was formerly known as St John’s Airfield, when it opened in 1919, then Essendon Aerodrome, Melbourne Airport and most recently Essendon Airport.

Andrew Fox and Max Beck, whose families own Essendon Fields Airport. Pic: SDP Media

The Beatles at Essendon Airport in 1964.

English pop star Cliff Richard, then just 21, is driven up and down the tarmac before 3000 screaming fans who welcomed him at Essendon Airport in October 1961.

“The airport site has changed since 2001 when it was sold to the Fox and Beck families,’’ he said.

The first contingent of Australian troops to leave Melbourne for Vietnam flew out of Essendon Airport in 1967.

The Beatles on the rooftop at Essendon Airport in June 1964.

Some of the advance escort riders for the Queen's drive from Essendon Airport to Government House on February 24, 1954.

“We now have 6000 jobs on site from only 500 in 2001.’’

Four companies — Sharp Airlines, JETGO, Free Spirit Airlines and Fly Corporate — have been added to the airport’s schedules, servicing locations in Victoria, New South Wales as well as King and Flinders islands.

“The airport is also home to 50 of Australasia’s 150 corporate jet fleet,” Mr Cowan said.

One third of all movements at the airport were the state’s emergency services, he said.

Mr Cowan also said the airport had a complimentary role with Melbourne Airport, 6.5km up the Tullamarine Freeway. A free shuttle bus operates between the two sites.

Army Minister Andrew Peacock with a crate of whisky to mark TAA's 50th anniversary flight from London to Australia.

Ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev arrives at Essendon Airport in March 1970. He was in Melbourne to supervise the rehearsals of his production of Don Quixote.

The airport has also had the main runway resurfaced and two new hangars have been built.

The airport has seen many famous arrivals, including the Beatles, Roy Orbison, the Rolling Stones and Cliff Richard during the 1960s and the Queen for her Royal Tour in 1954.

The airport’s recent expansion and the proposed lifting of the 11pm-6am curfew has angered nearby residents.

Federal aviation authorities are considering the changes which would allow late-night landings of corporate jets.

But Mr Cowan said the airport had consulted with the community and that landings would be quieter more efficient aircraft..

“It’s a win for aviation and a win for the community,’’ he said.

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