Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Melbourne Airport, known locally as Tullamarine, is Australia's second-busiest airport and the principal international gateway to the state of Victoria. Located at Tullamarine some 22 kilometres northwest of the Melbourne CBD, it offers a sim pilot two long, parallel-independent runways, full ILS coverage and a busy, unrestricted 24-hour operating environment. It has served as the state's main air gateway since replacing Essendon Airport in 1970 and remains a major hub for Qantas, Virgin Australia and Jetstar.
Melbourne Airport, universally known to locals as Tullamarine after the suburb in which it sits, is the main international gateway for the state of Victoria and Australia's second-busiest airport by passenger numbers. For a sim pilot it offers a substantial, professionally controlled environment: two long hard-surfaced runways, an ILS on both principal approach directions, and round-the-clock jet traffic, since the field was deliberately built to operate without a curfew. It is a major hub for Qantas and Virgin Australia and an operating base for Jetstar and Rex Airlines.
The airport lies at Tullamarine, approximately 22 kilometres northwest of the Melbourne city centre, within the airspace and control of Melbourne Approach and Melbourne Tower. As a major international hub it sits within controlled airspace with departures split by direction, handled separately to the north and south.
Melbourne has two physical runways, both hard-surfaced and lit. The primary runway, 16/34, is 11,996 feet long, with an ILS serving runway 16. The secondary runway, 09/27, is 7,490 feet long, with an ILS serving runway 27. Field elevation is 390 feet.
Melbourne Approach operates on 132 MHz, with the field ATIS broadcast on 118 MHz under the callsign YMML ATIS. Melbourne Tower controls on 120.5 MHz and Melbourne Ground on 121.7 MHz. Departures are split by direction: 118.9 MHz for traffic departing to the north and 129.4 MHz for traffic departing to the south. A clearance delivery frequency of 127.2 MHz is also published. Both runway 16 and runway 27 are served by an ILS.
Before Melbourne Airport was built, Victoria's principal airport was Essendon, which had been designated an international airport in 1950 but by the mid-1950s was constrained by short runways, inadequate terminal facilities and encroaching residential development that prevented expansion. A panel was appointed in February 1958 to assess Melbourne's future civil aviation needs, and several alternative sites were considered, including Tullamarine, Whittlesea, Hastings, Port Melbourne, Werribee, Laverton, Avalon and Moorabbin. Tullamarine was ultimately preferred over Laverton, partly because coordinating military and civil operations at Laverton could not guarantee an adequate safety margin. In May 1959 the Commonwealth Government announced the acquisition of 5,300 hectares of rural grassland at Tullamarine for the new airport, with preliminary approval granted in March 1960. In 1962 Prime Minister Robert Menzies adopted a five-year master plan targeting completion by 1967, and construction began in November 1964. The airport opened to international operations on 1 July 1970, when Prime Minister John Gorton performed the official opening, ending Essendon's near two-decade role as Melbourne's international airport. Essendon continued to handle domestic flights for a further year until they transferred to Melbourne Airport on 26 June 1971, with the first Boeing 747 arrival following later that year. In its first year of operation Melbourne handled six international airlines and 155,275 international passengers. The airport was originally named Melbourne International Airport and takes its popular name, Tullamarine, from the indigenous name Tullamareena.
Melbourne Airport was purpose-built to operate without a curfew and remains Australia's busiest 24-hour airport, handling over 36 million passengers in 2025 and making it the second-busiest airport in the country after Sydney. It functions as a major hub for Qantas and Virgin Australia, an operating base for Jetstar and Rex Airlines, a focus city for ASL Airlines Australia, and the headquarters for the cargo carrier Team Global Express. The airport is operated by Australia Pacific Airports Corporation.
