Melbourne Airport To Build Third Runway
Melbourne Airport has announced construction of a third runway
Melbourne Airport (MEL) has announced further details on a plan to construct a third runway. Melbourne Airport CEO, Chris Woodruff has stated that a third runway is required to provide additional capacity for the projected growth in aircraft movements by the end of the decade. The Melbourne Airport draft Master Plan envisages that a third runway will be needed approximately in 2018 to 2022 to meet the demand from both international and domestic airlines as passenger movement increases in the next ten years. Passenger numbers are forecasted to reach 40 million by 2020 and more than 60 million by 2033.
The proposed third runway will operate parallel to the current east-west runway (RWY 09/27) as well as the existing north-south runway (RWY16/34). The runway will be around 3km in length and 60 meters wide will also be capable of handling a380′s.
Mr Woodruff was quoted as saying, “A new east-west runway will enable Melbourne Airport to handle more aircraft movements, more efficiently. Passengers will spend less time on the ground taxiing to and from terminals, and aircraft will burn less fuel on more direct flight paths and shorter trips from the gate to the runway”.
It will between two to four years to construct at a cost of $500 million dollars.
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Noise is expected increaase in some areas nearby as more aircraft will be flying overhead as a result of the new runway.
The third runway is part of a program to invest up to $10 billion over the next twenty years to ensure that Tullamarine is the aviation gateway to Victoria and South East Australia. There is no more room for expansion at Sydney Airport.
