Melbourne Airport Guide: Tullamarine’s Runways and Terminals
Melbourne Airport runs 24 hours a day with no curfew and a third runway on the way. Read how Australia's second busiest airport works and where to watch it.
By The Aviation Hub
7 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Melbourne Airport sits at Tullamarine, about 14 miles (23 km) northwest of the city centre, on the flat basalt plains beyond the suburbs of Victoria’s capital. It is the second busiest airport in Australia after Sydney and the busiest in the country to operate around the clock without a curfew. Qantas and Virgin Australia both run hubs here and Jetstar has one of its largest bases. Around 36 million passengers used the airport in 2025, and a third runway due at the start of the next decade will let it grow well beyond that.
Melbourne Airport at a Glance
The codes are MEL and YMML. The field lies at 434 ft (132 m) above sea level between the Tullamarine Freeway and the Maribyrnong valley, with the suburbs of Keilor, Gladstone Park and Bulla around it. There are two runways in a crossing layout and four terminals arranged in a single long building. Almost everyone in the city calls it Tullamarine or simply Tulla.
Melbourne Airport handled about 36.2 million passengers in 2025. Qantas, QantasLink, Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Rex all base aircraft here, and ASL Airlines Australia uses it as a freighter focus city. The Australia Pacific Airports Corporation, owned by a group of pension and infrastructure funds, has run the airport since 1997 under a 50 year lease from the Commonwealth with an option for 49 more. Terminal maps, parking and transport advice are on the airport’s official website.
How Melbourne’s Airport Came to Be
Melbourne’s original airport was at Essendon, which by the 1950s was surrounded by houses and too short for the jets on order. The Commonwealth chose farmland at Tullamarine in 1959, and Prime Minister John Gorton opened the new airport to international flights on 1 July 1970. Domestic flights moved from Essendon in June 1971, and Essendon survives as a business aviation field.
The airport was built with a single terminal and separate domestic wings for Ansett and TAA, the two airline duopoly of the time. The international section was extended through the 1990s, and the Category III instrument landing system installed here was the first in Australia, a necessity on a site famous for winter fog. The south terminal passed from Ansett to Virgin Blue after Ansett collapsed in 2001.
Privatisation in 1997 brought the long lease to Australia Pacific Airports, which has expanded steadily since. Terminal 4, a purpose built low cost building, opened in 2015. In May 2008 a fog diversion from Sydney brought a Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 to Tullamarine, an unplanned footnote in the airport’s history.
Runways at Melbourne Airport
Melbourne Airport has two asphalt runways that cross. The main runway, 16/34, is 3,657 m (11,998 ft) long and 60 m wide and takes every long haul departure, including Qantas Boeing 787-9s to Los Angeles and Dallas and Emirates Airbus A380s to Dubai. The east west runway, 09/27, is 2,286 m (7,500 ft) by 45 m and handles narrow bodies and most arrivals when the wind blows from the west.
Operations switch between several modes through the day. Northerly winds in summer put departures on 34 and arrivals on 27, with aircraft approaching from the east over Westmeadows and Broadmeadows. Southerly changes, which sweep through Melbourne with little warning, flip the field to landings on 16 over the open country north of the airport. Both runways are used simultaneously for most of the day in a land and hold short pattern.
The lack of a curfew is a competitive advantage. Freighters and the overnight Asian and Middle Eastern flights operate freely between 11 pm and 6 am, something Sydney’s rules forbid. Noise is managed through flight paths rather than closures, and the arrival of a third runway will redraw those paths.
Terminals and Airlines
The four terminals at Melbourne Airport occupy one continuous building. Terminal 1 at the northern end belongs to the Qantas Group, with Qantas and QantasLink domestic and regional flights, the Qantas Club and the business lounges. Terminal 2 in the centre is the international terminal, used by Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Australia and every foreign carrier, among them Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air New Zealand, United, Delta, China Southern, Japan Airlines, Vietnam Airlines and Malaysia Airlines.
Terminal 3 is the Virgin Australia terminal, inherited from Ansett and refurbished more than once. Rex also keeps a lounge there. Terminal 4 at the southern end is the budget building, home to Jetstar’s domestic network and Rex, with self service bag drop and a long walk to the gates. Lounges in Terminal 2 include Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Emirates facilities.
Routes and Destinations
Sydney is the busiest route and one of the busiest city pairs in the world. Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Rex between them offer a departure every few minutes through the day. Brisbane, Adelaide, the Gold Coast and Perth complete the domestic top five, and Hobart, Launceston, Canberra and Cairns are close behind.
Internationally, Singapore is the leading route, served by Singapore Airlines, Qantas, Jetstar and Scoot. Denpasar in Bali, Auckland, Hong Kong and Dubai follow. Qantas flies non stop to Los Angeles, Dallas Fort Worth and Delhi, and the Dallas route at roughly 9,000 miles (14,500 km) is among the longest from Australia. Qantas also runs Antarctic sightseeing charters from Terminal 1 each summer.
Traffic peaks over the Australian summer holidays in December and January and again around the Australian Open and Grand Prix. Cargo is important, with Qantas Freight and a range of Asian cargo airlines using the dedicated freight apron.
Getting to and from Melbourne Airport
Melbourne Airport still has no railway station, a sore point in a city with the largest tram network on earth. SkyBus is the practical answer, running express coaches to Southern Cross station in the city centre every ten minutes for about A$25 (roughly £13), with a journey of 25 to 45 minutes depending on the Tullamarine Freeway. Separate SkyBus routes serve St Kilda and the southeast. Public bus routes 901 and 478 are the cheapest sensible option at a standard myki fare, but they are slow.
Taxis and ride hailing cars reach the central business district in 25 to 40 minutes for around A$60 to 70. The Airport Drive extension, opened in 2015, gives a second road route. Parking is extensive but pricey at the terminal, with the long term and value car parks far cheaper when booked ahead.
The Melbourne Airport Rail project will run 17 miles (27 km) from the airport via Sunshine into the Metro Tunnel beneath the city. After years of argument over the station design, an elevated station has been agreed and opening is now expected around 2033.
Spotting and Photography
The best known spot is Operations Road, which runs alongside Runway 16/34 and the main taxiways. Spotters park there to watch heavies taxi and depart from close range, and its southern end catches arrivals on 34. The official viewing area at the corner of Sunbury Road and Oaklands Road, north of the field, sits under the approach to Runway 16.
Morning light favours the eastern side and the afternoon suits positions to the west. The Terminal 2 viewing deck and the upper rooms of the PARKROYAL hotel overlook the aprons. Highlights include Emirates Airbus A380s, a wide range of Asian and Gulf wide bodies and a steady stream of Qantas and Virgin 737-800s and Jetstar Airbus A320 family jets.
Australian Federal Police patrol the perimeter and are generally friendly to spotters who stay on public roads. Do not stop on the freeway, keep away from the fences and never fly a drone anywhere near the airport.
What Comes Next
The federal government approved the third runway in September 2024. It will be a 3,000 m north south strip parallel to 16/34, funded by the airport at around A$3 billion, with construction under way from 2025 and opening expected around 2031. Residents in Brimbank and the northwestern suburbs oppose it over noise, but the approval stands. A new international pier and a long term terminal masterplan sit alongside it.
With no curfew, a third runway and a train on the way, Melbourne Airport is better placed than Sydney to grow over the next 20 years. Compare the Australian gateways on the Airports of the World map.
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