Third runway at Tullamarine is cleared for takeoff as Melbourne Airport expands
UPDATE: STATE Government backs third Tullamarine runway in boom to bring thousands more flights. | Time to build rail link
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A THIRD runway is planned for Melbourne Airport in an economic boom that will bring thousands more planes into Tullamarine each year.
The $500 million runway, which will be 3km long and able to handle giant passengers jets such as A380s, will boost Melbourne's chances of overtaking the gridlocked Sydney Airport to become Australia's No.1 gateway.
Airport CEO Chris Woodruff said the new runway was needed to "meet the demand from domestic and international airlines as the number of passengers travelling through Melbourne continues to grow".
Victorian Aviation Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips said the Baillieu Government supported the plan.
"The Government welcomes Melbourne Airports release of its proposal for this important piece of infrastructure.
"This is a vote of confidence in Victoria,'' he said.
Work on the runway, which will sit parallel to the east-west runway, could begin as early as 2016. Melbourne's northwest would have thousands more planes flying overhead.
Gladstone Park, Broadmeadows and Westmeadows residents would be under the flight path for planes landing at the airport, while Hillside locals would feel the brunt of departures.
The suburbs are included in current airport noise maps but have not previously been in the direct flight path.
A third and fourth runway have been flagged in airport master plans for several years but airport chiefs revealed their preferred orientation for the next airstrip for the first time at a community meeting last night.
It will be included in the airport's draft master plan for the next 20 years, which will be released for public consultation early next year and also submitted to the Federal Government for approval.
The airport has more than 200,000 planes arrive and depart each year - or about 565 a day. That number is expected to rise to more than 280,000 a year by June 2023 as passenger numbers grow.
Mr Woodruff said the proposed runway would be parallel to the existing east-west runway, perpendicular to the current north-south runway and take up to four years to build.
"The Melbourne Airport draft Master Plan envisages that a new runway will be needed around 2018-2022 to meet the demand from domestic and international airlines as the number of passengers travelling through Melbourne continues to grow," he said.
Mr Woodruff said noise contours, which mapped areas most affected by aeroplane noise, would be updated in the draft master plan to reflect the proposed runway. "There will be some areas within the existing noise contours that will experience more aircraft flying overhead as a result of the construction of a new runway," he said.
"In the course of planning for a third runway, we will be working closely with various stakeholders, including Airservices Australia, on measures to minimise the noise impact on our neighbours, while ensuring we continue to operate the airport in the most efficient way possible."
- with James Campbell
