Essendon Airport

:"Essendon Airport is also the name of a 'post-punk' Melbourne band." Infobox Airport
name = Essendon Airport
nativename = Melbourne/Essendon
nativename-a =
nativename-r =


image-width = 135
caption =
IATA = MEB
ICAO = YMEN
type = Public
owner = Zavanti Holdings Pty. Ltd.
operator = Essendon Airport Pty. Ltd.
city-served = Melbourne
location = Essendon
elevation-f = 282
elevation-m = 86
coordinates = coord|37|43|41|S|144|54|07|E|type:airport
website = [http://www.essendonairport.com.au/ www.essendonairport.com.au]
metric-elev =
metric-rwy = Yes
r1-number = 08/26
r1-length-f = 6,302
r1-length-m = 1,921
r1-surface = Asphalt
r2-number = 17/35
r2-length-f = 4,931
r2-length-m = 1,503
r2-surface = Asphalt
stat-year = 2006
stat1-header = Movements
stat1-data = 60,000+ [ Stat source: [http://www.essendonairport.com.au/ Essendon Airport Website] ]
stat2-header =
stat2-data =
footnotes = Source: AIP ERSA

Essendon Airport Airport codes|MEB|YMEN is located at Essendon Fields, in Melbourne's northern suburbs, Victoria, Australia. It is located next to the Tullamarine Freeway on 3.05 square kilometres, convert|21|km from the Melbourne Central Business District and convert|7|km from Melbourne Airport.

History

The area of the airport was originally known as St Johns, after an early landowner. The airport was proclaimed by the Commonwealth Government in 1921. Originally the airport had grass runways with the first tenants moving in from December 1921, including J. H. Larkin, Captain Matthews, Bob Hart and Major Harry Shaw.

The 1920s period saw the great pioneering aviation flights of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith who visited the airport on several occasions. In August 1926 60,000 people swarmed across the grassy fields of Essendon Airport upon the arrival of aviation pioneer Alan Cobham when he landed his de Havilland DH.50 floatplane, flown from England to Australia.

Expansion

The airport was extended with additional land during the 1930s. The grass was finally upgraded to concrete tarmac in 1946. The first international commercial flight arrived from New Zealand in 1951. Commercial international flights were transferred nineteen years later to the new Tullamarine International Airport in 1970, with Commercial domestic flights following in 1971. The short runways at Essendon, and the surrounding housing, made the airport unsuitable for long range pure jet operations (such as Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s). The only pure jet to use Essendon commercially was BOAC's Comets, which were withdrawn in late 1965.

Qantas ran a Super Constellation, and later Lockheed Electra turboprop service from Sydney to Johannesburg, via Essendon, Perth, Cocos Island, and Mauritius. By 1969 this had been replaced by a Boeing 707 which overflew Melbourne - and with it, went the airport's last long range international service, leaving it only with trans-Tasman operations. Qantas and Air New Zealand operated the service with Lockheed Electras.

A large variety of aircraft were used through Essendon in the 1960s - Lockheed Electras, Vickers Viscounts, Fokker Friendships, Douglas DC-3s, DC-4s, and DC-6s, De Havilland Comets, and from 1964, Boeing 727s. Douglas DC-9s were introduced later in the decade.International flights departed mainly from Sydney during Essendon's years of operation, and there were regular daily flights between the two largest metropolitan areas in Australia.

Some notable arrivals at the airport include:

* 1956 - Olympics and arrival of Queen Elizabeth II. Airport staff directed 206 international flights down safely during one week at Essendon airport.
* 1964 - The Beatles, upon arrival, waved to thousands of teenagers from the viewing deck of Essendon Airport's main terminal building.
* 1973 - Sir Robert Helpmann co-directed with Rudolph Nureyev, the Australian Ballet film of Don Quixote in F hangar.
* 1987 - Kylie Minogue films her first ever music video for her debut single Locomotion here.

Today

In 2001 the Commonwealth Government sold its management rights for the airport to Edgelear Pty. Ltd., a consortium of the Linfox transport group owned by transport tycoon Lindsay Fox (which also owns Avalon Airport), and the Becton group of companies. Executive, corporate and privately owned aircraft are based here along with charter, freight and regional Victorian airlines who currently operate from the airport as well as several flight training schools. The airport also provides warehousing facilities, and a home to the Victorian Air Ambulance, Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Victoria Police Air Wing.

In 2007 the airport was re-designed under a new master plan, as part of the Essendon Fields development. This master plan caters for the future of the site for both aviation and non-aviation use. A new access road and off ramp was constructed from the Tullamarine Freeway to enter the airport precinct from the north, rather than the common Matthews Avenue entry point. This has necessitated the construction of an Aero-Crossing as the new access road crosses a taxiway. Most of the aviation users of the former 'Northern Hangars' have moved to other sites on the airport with the notable exceptions of the Victoria Police Air Wing and Executive Airlines. The Police Air Wing are due to move to a new facility in the future as the former 'Northern Hangars' are scheduled to be removed as non-aviation businesses purchase sites in that area. Executive Airlines will continue to operate from their present building and are the only company that uses the Aero-Crossing site. Of course the Air Wing Helicopters are not affected by the insertion of the roadway.

New tenants under this new plan include:
* Australia Post (Mail Centre)
* Coles and Liquorland
* Subwayand many others; the airport operations company has moved to a new building called 'Essendon Fields House' adjacent to where it used to be located. There will also be suites available for those professions that require them in the same building that the Coles development is housed, called 'Essendon Fields Suites'.

The airfield itself also has undergone a major upgrade with the installation of lighting and signage systems to bring the airport to International Civil Aviation Organization standards. There are now taxiway signs, and the taxiway and runway lighting has been upgraded to new units. The runway lighting is now medium intensity on runway 17/35 and upgraded to high intensity on 26/08. This alleviates the loss of the approach lighting system previously. Also during this upgrade the old Fixed Distance Lighting and Visual Approach Slope Indicator systems were decommissioned and replaced with new Precision Approach Path Indicator systems on the left side of all runways. A new Pilot Activated Lighting or PAL system was also installed to allow the lighting system to remain off when not required for use by aircraft.

In November of 2007 Essendon Airport released its latest Master Plan. The Master Plan details further proposals to expand aviation activities. These plans have been opposed by the local residents group 'Close Essendon Airport' and local political representatives Kelvin Thomson MP and Judy Maddigan.

Aviation Users

Airlines

* Direct Air (Charter)
* Sharp Airlines (Hamilton, Portland)
* Shortstop Jet Charter ('Gooney Bird' Flights, Charter, FBO)
* Executive Airlines (Charter, FBO)
* Airlines of Tasmania (Flinders Island)
* General Aviation Maintenance (Freight, FBO)

Flying Schools

* InterAir
* National Aerospace Training (NAT)
* Pearson Aviation

Other Operators

* Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS)
* Air Ambulance Victoria
* Victoria Police Air Wing

ee also

*List of Australian airports
*Transportation in Australia

References

* [http://home.vicnet.net.au/~strthmre/airport.htm Essendon Airport History on Strathmore Community Website]
* [http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail&place_id=102718#41288307907773747741 Register of the National Estate entry]

External links

* [http://www.essendonairport.com.au/ Essendon Airport Website]
* [http://www.closeessendonairport.com/ Close Essendon Airport Campaign]
* [http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/ Airways Museum]
*WAD|YMEN