The chief executive of the Lindsay Fox-owned Avalon Airport Tony Brun says the government should give it the same generous support as that being pumped into Western Sydney, as well as co-invest in rail infrastructure needed to drive traffic., has assurances over air traffic control that give it a significant boost attracting foreign carriers. When it opens in 2026, it will be the first new airport in Australia since Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport opened in 1970.
“They’re all committed and guaranteed for Western Sydney, but for us, they’re not and that creates problems for airlines wanting to operate here and even freight operations.” “And if we can get the Commonwealth government to say ‘yep, Avalon is Melbourne’s second international airport, no different to Western Sydney’, and we are also assured that there will be across the board air traffic control and firefighting services at that airport, the airlines will come like the sun comes up in the east in the morning. They’ll fly here.”
Avalon Airport has already costed adding a stop on the train line from Melbourne to Geelong to connect more passengers with the two major cities. It says a new station near Lara and a 6-minute electric bus route would cost only $140 million, or just 1 per cent of the recently postponed Melbourne Airport rail link estimate.