Essendon Airport

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Essendon Airport is also the name of a 'post-punk' Melbourne band.
Essendon Airport
IATA: MEB - ICAO: YMEN
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Essendon Airport Limited
Serves Melbourne
Elevation AMSL 282 ft (86 m)
Coordinates 37°43′41″S, 144°54′07″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
08/26 6,302 1,921 Asphalt
17/35 5,200 1,585 Asphalt

Essendon Airport (IATA: MEBICAO: YMEN) is located at Strathmore, in Melbourne's northern suburbs, Victoria, Australia. It is located next to the Tullamarine Freeway on 3.05 square kilometres, 11 kilometres from the Melbourne Central Business District and 5 kilometres from Melbourne Airport.

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 DH-50 float plane, flown from England to Australia.

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.

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
  • 1987 - Kylie Minogue films her first ever music video for her debut single Locomotion here.

In 2001 the Commonwealth Government sold its management rights for the airport to Edgelear P/L, a consortium of the Linfox transport group owned by transport tycoon Lindsay Fox (which also owns Avalon Airport), and Becton group of companies. Privately owned aircraft, charter and freight flights, and small rural and regional Victorian flight companies currently operate from the airport, as well as providing warehousing facilities, and an airbase to the Air ambulance and the Victoria Police Airwing.

The long term future of Essendon Airport is still being debated. While the airport provides some local economic benefit and local employment, local residents have complained about noise periodically from 1930, and continue to highlight the risk to local suburbs from an aviation accident.

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