Melbourne Avalon Airport

This is a great little airport especially if you want to go straight to the Great Ocean Road. We sorted out our rental car while waiting for our luggage and were on our way within 15 minutes of landing. We stayed in Melbourne before flying out and the airport was an easy drive down the West Gate Freeway and no tolls unlike the Citylink road to Tullamarine. After security there are a couple of shops a bar/cafe and internet access terminals. Staff are very relaxed and friendly.

While this airport is justified in trading under the name of 'Melbourne Avalon' because of Melbourne's 3.6 million population versus under 300000 for Geelong strictly speaking it is not in Melbourne and should have a note similar to airports like Bologna (Forli) have next to them on the Skytrax airport review pages.

The Sunbus shuttle from Melbourne's Spencer Street to Avalon is a rich and edifying experience. I have used it on several occasions. As the bus slowly makes its way down the 55km freeway stretch and over the West Gate Bridge I have enjoyed some really amusing patter with the drivers and passengers. I call it the Sunbus Funbus. Hopefully the Melbourne terminal will improve as Melbourne gets its promised new bus station in Spencer Street. Advise get there early to locate the bus! As I drive the Melbourne Geelong Freeway almost daily I can understand the Sunbus tedious margin of of arriving early in case of congestion. The freeway does have occasional delays due to weather or accidents or very bad congestion on the Bridge in peak periods. Unlike Skybus from Tullamarine Sunbus does not run loud and boring video commercials. Not a bad ride for the money.

Avalon airport's facilities consist of a coffee shop/snackbar (muffins and slices) newsagent/mixed goods and a bar that serves hot food (which just looked like expensive but ordinary meat pies to me). There are three internet terminals ($2 for 15 minutes) and a plasma TV in the eating area. That's more than was available at some Australian regional airports but much less than your average capital city terminal. Access to planes is via the tarmac. The main problem was hanging around for 45 minutes due to Sunbus' far too early connecting coach from Melbourne. As a transit stop it's okay. If your time is valuable Tullamarine is probably a better option unless you are driving yourself from the Geelong area.

No easy marked Shuttle pick-up points for Jetstar passengers to depart from Avalon. My Queensland friend was let down badly on returning to Brisbane back in January. The booking was phoned in for a Geelong pickup but not recorded on the drivers time sheet. We then had to take her out to Avalon just in time for her flight. Not good enough or a reliable service

Being from Geelong I love being able to be at the airport in under 20 minutes. I hate Jetstars "be here half an hour early or miss out" policy and I know a few people who have been delayed and told they can't board despite being there 20 minutes before departure. Still great to fly in and out of parking is cheap compared to Tullamarine and no long freeway for me to come home on. They have upgraded a few bits since I was first there but the whole building needs expansion to cope with the increasing passenger numbers.

This new airport is 55kms from MEL city centre and initially only has five return Jetstar flights daily: three returns to Sydney two to Brisbane. Unfortunately Jestar parent company Qantas insists that the connecting Sunbus service from MEL Spencer St station arrives Avalon 90 minutes prior to scheduled flight departure. There is little to do at Avalon except wait for boarding which is in groups of around 40 by sequence number a new system for a mainline Australian airline. An alternative is to take a V/Line train to Lara and pre-book a taxi. At certain times this may save hanging around Avalon for 90 minutes but taxis must be prebooked - call Geelong Radio Cabs or Bay City Cabs. Coming from Warrnambool or Lorne in SW Victoria the late afternoon West Coast Rail train stops at Lara makes an excellent connection with the final Jetstar flight to Brisbane. Avalon is likely to host further Jetstar flights in the coming months probably to Adelaide as initial bookings have been 'above expectations' according to management (whatever that means.)