Melbourne Airport - Avalon Airport

Avalon Airport

When Jetstar was established in 2004, it decided to operate flights to Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney from Avalon rather than Melbourne Airport. This made Melbourne the only city in Australia with two commercially served airports and generated airport competition for the first time in an Australian city. To compete with Avalon, Melbourne established the Budget Terminal and lowered landing fees, which made it the cheapest arrival point in Australia and one of the cheapest international airports in the world. Since then, Jetstar has moved all its flights from Avalon to Melbourne Airport, with the exception of Sydney and Brisbane which it operates from both airports.

AirAsia X was widely expected to launch international flights to Kuala Lumpur from Avalon in October 2008. However, Linfox's proposal to upgrade Avalon's international facilities was rejected on 5 June 2008, which prompted AirAsia X to announce flights from Melbourne Airport on 20 August 2008. Linfox vowed to resolve the Government's concerns and build the terminal, but on 14 November 2008, announced that upgrading Avalon to handle international flights would no longer be viable due to the government's resistance. Then on 10 March 2009, Linfox announced that Avalon would indeed handle international flights within two years and the Government would approve of a $50 million terminal by the end of 2009.

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