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."