https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=1693
Plans for a 3rd runway at Melbourne Airport, which would mean noise for suburbs, opposed by residents
A 3rd runway planned for Melbourne Airport, parallel to its east-west runway but some 2km to the south. This will give Melbourne Airport the highest capacity in Australia – but put more homes under the flight path and affect more people with noise. Its flight paths will affect three suburbs that are currently little affected. There are the usual claims about employment, driving the economy and getting in more tourists etc. There is local opposition from residents already affected by noise and other airport impacts; they do not want a new runway and have a petition against it, and against night flights. However, the opponents are less bothered about the flights going to other airports in the area. There is also a bitter local battle over a 2nd Sydney Airport and Sydney and Melbourne compete. Passenger movements at Sydney are predicted to grow 3.6% per year for the next 20 years on average, below the recent growth rate. Melbourne Airport is expected to grow slightly faster at 3.9% per year. Melbourne Airport hopes to have 64 million people flying in and out by 2033, more than double the current figure.
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Third runway puts Melbourne on top
20 MAY 2013 (Financial Review – Australia)
Map shows location of airports near Melbourne, with Tullamarine airport north of the city and Avalon airport near Geelong some miles to the south west
Melbourne airport’s owners have revealed a third runway will be used mostly for arrivals with planes coming in over Broadmeadows and descending over Gladstone Park before landing. Photo: Craig Abraham
by JASON MURPHY AND JESSICA GARDNER
A third runway planned for Melbourne Airport will give it the highest capacity in the country but put more homes under the flight path.
Australia Pacific Airports Corp chief executive Chris Woodruff said the growth of the airport would help drive the Victorian economy.
“Melbourne Airport is about to embark on the most significant period of growth since it opened in 1970,” he said.
Melbourne’s plan for a smooth airport expansion comes as the political fight over a second Sydney Airport remains bitter and partisan.
Mr Woodruff has previously boasted of “taking the fight to Sydney and outgrowing them”.
The orientation of the new runway was revealed in a new draft master plan released on Monday.
The runway is part of $10 billion capital budget the airport plans to expend over the next 20 years.
It will be operational from 2022 at the latest.
It will run parallel to an existing east-west runway and will be located about two kilometres away, enabling both runways to operate in tandem. [see map of area – the runway is presumably to the south of the existing east-west runway, and therefore much nearer to residential suburbs].
The proposed runway is closer to the terminal, meaning there would be fewer taxiing delays and the number of “live” runway crossings would be reduced, the plan revealed. [As it would be south of the north-south runway, that crosses the existing east-west runway]. It is also expected to reduce noise in the south but increase noise to the airport’s east.
Homes in nearby suburbs Tullamarine, Gladstone Park and Broadmeadows are expected to be affected.
Melbourne Airport is around 23 kilometres from the city centre. It is surrounded by rural and undeveloped areas, with the nearest homes three kilometres to the south-east. [Those homes will be very much closer if the new runway is built south of the existing ones].
After the upgrade, Melbourne Airport will be able to support 380,000 aircraft movements a year, or up to 88 movements an hour.
Qantas Airways chief executive Alan Joyce seemed to send a message to Sydney in his praise for Melbourne’s development.
“I think it’s great that Melbourne is ahead of the curve in terms of developing its infrastructure,” he said.
“The infrastructure across the country needs to keep pace with economic development, and Melbourne is one of the airports that is ahead of that curve,” Mr Joyce said.
Sydney Airport, which is eight kilometres south of the central business district, supports 280,910 flights a year, according to an airport fact sheet. Its capacity is capped by legislation at 80 movements an hour.
Passenger movements at Sydney are predicted to grow 3.6 per cent per year for the next 20 years on average, below the recent growth rate. Melbourne Airport is expected to grow slightly faster at 3.9 per cent per year.
Victorian and national tourism peak bodies welcomed the draft plan and praised the proposed new runway.
The draft master plan also stated a new rail link to the airport is “likely to be outside the five-year focus of this master plan” and suggested bus services be improved.
The state government promised a study into a rail link to Melbourne Airport before its election in 2011.
The draft plan is open for public comment for 60 business days.
- Melbourne Airport to add third runway
- http://www.afr.com/p/national/more_homes_affected_under_melbourne_Wx2etEwslxOZGO7v91L7iN
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Third runway at Melbourne Airport to put planes over 3000 houses
- by AMELIA HARRIS (HERALD SUN)
- MAY 20, 2013 1
A third runway at Melbourne Airport will begin operating between 2018-22. Source: Herald Sun
EXCLUSIVE: AT least 3000 homes in Tullamarine, Gladstone Park and Broadmeadows will have planes directly overhead for the first time when a proposed third runway is built at Melbourne Airport, the airport’s owners have revealed.
The new runway, capable of handling A380s, will sit parallel to the existing east-west runway and begin operating between 2018 and 2022 to cope with booming passenger numbers.
It will allow for almost 380,000 arrivals and departures by 2040, compared with 210,000 last year under the two-runway operation.
The third runway will be mainly used for arrivals, which are quieter than departures, with planes coming in over Broadmeadows and descending over Gladstone Park before landing.
Night time use will also be minimised.
The airport’s preliminary draft master plan, seen by the Herald Sun, outlines its vision for the next 20 years, including a $10 billion spend on infrastructure and using technology to provide a better passenger experience.
Melbourne Airport CEO Chris Woodruff said the document highlighted how its future growth would drive the economy.
It contributes $1.47 billion a year to Victoria’s Gross State Product, a figure expected to increase to $3.21 billion by 2033.
The first self-service check-in kiosks are being installed in the international terminal and passengers will be able to use them on Air New Zealand flights within weeks. Self-service bag drops will follow.
Airport spokesman Matt Francis said they reflected passenger trends and reduced queues for international check-in.
The airport also wants to work with airlines and government so travellers catching the Skybus can check in and print a boarding pass at Southern Cross station within 20 years.
The idea could be expanded to train passengers if an airport rail link was built.
The airport reiterated calls for the State Government to fund a rail link, widen the Tullamarine Freeway and provide dedicated bus lanes.
More than 29.1 million passengers travelled through Melbourne Airport last year, with that number expected to rise to 46.5 million by 2023 and 64.4 million by 2033.
The preliminary draft master plan will be released for public comment today.
A revised version taking feedback into consideration will then go to Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese for approval.
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One of the comments below the article says:
With Australia’s liquid fuel supplies to dribble to almost zero, and a disruption to foreign supply chains, this rush on fossil fuel transport addiction will end. Once peak oil sets in the growth of these monstrosities will end. Air travel can’t continue indefinitely, and we need a circuit breaker to end these expansions that will be white elephants in the future
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Fight the Flight Path petition to the Australian House of Representatives
A residents’ group for those affected by the airport, called Fight the Flight Path (FTFP)
has a petition opposing this growth. Their petition says that “any additional runways at Melbourne Airport and projected increases of passenger numbers from 28 million to 60 million per annum by 2030 will cause irreparable impact to the communities surrounding Melbourne Airport”
and ends:
“….therefore ask the House to use it’s exclusive powers to reject any additional runways at Melbourne Airport, cap the number of aircraft allowed to use Melbourne Airport and impose a curfew between the hours of 11pm and 6am.”
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