Melbourne Airport (MEL)

Melbourne Airport also known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne, and the second busiest airport in Australia. It was opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is the sole international airport of the four airports serving the Melbourne metropolitan area.

The airport is 23 km from the city centre. The airport has its own postcode—Melbourne Airport, Victoria This is adjacent to the suburb of Tullamarine.

The Melbourne–Sydney air route is the third most-travelled passenger air route in the world and the third busiest in the Asia Pacific region. The airport features direct flights to 33 destinations in all states and territories of Australia in addition to numerous destinations in Oceania, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Melbourne Airport is the number one arrival/departure point for the airports of four of Australia's seven other capital cities.N1 Melbourne serves as a major hub for Qantas and Virgin Australia, while Jetstar Airways and Tiger Airways Australia utilise the airport as home base. Melbourne is the busiest airport for international export freight as of August 2011, while second busiest for import freight. Domestically, Melbourne serves as headquarters for Australian air Express and Toll Priority and handles more domestic freight than any other airport in the nation.

In 2003, Melbourne received the International Air Transport Association Eagle Award for service and two National Tourism Awards for tourism services. The airport comprises four terminals: one international terminal, two domestic terminals and one budget domestic terminal. Most recently Melbourne Airport was awarded by Skytrax for having the best Airport hotel in the Australia/Pacific in the World Airport Awards. Melbourne Airport was also ranked the 43rd best airport for 2012. Melbourne reached 30 million passengers for the first time in the 12 months ending July 2013.