Melbourne Airport, also known as “Tullamarine Airport”, is the second busiest airport in Australia after Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport. Of the four airports that serve the city of Melbourne, it is the only international one. The other local airports are called “Avalon”, “Essendon” and “Moorabbin”.
The airport is situated near the suburb of Tullamarine, about 23 kilometres from the centre of the city of Melbourne.
The airport and the area surrounding it are named after “Tullamareena” sometimes also spelled “Dullamarin’. Melbourne Airport currently handles in excess of 26,000,000 passengers and nearly 200,000 aircraft annually. Melbourne Airport has been ranked by the International Air Transport Association as one of the top five airports in the world.
As in all the world’s major airports, getting there and back, parking and traffic are difficult issues for travellers to deal with.
Sydney’s airport boasts the lowest parking satisfaction rating in Australia, but Melbourne’s airport comes a close second.
Parking currently earns 20% of the airport’s annual revenue. The airport’s short term car park has notoriously high charges and the traffic is horrendous.
If you do opt to travel in your own vehicle to the airport, by the time you finally make it to the car park, search around and find a parking place, lock up your car, and make your way to the terminal where you embark on your flight, your temper can be quite ruffled. The airport’s long term parking facilities seem to be somewhat better, relatively less expensive and easier to find parking, but even so, a lot of people still tend to look around the perimeter of the airport for private parking.
Most privately run private car parks for airport passengers are open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Once you have selected a private airport parking area, the deciding factor for you will probably be how much it costs in comparison with other car parks. There are some reasonably priced ones that offer good value for money.
If you are going away on a flight and not returning for a few days or even longer, you are most likely to want a really safe place to park your car. You need to choose a place with constant supervision.
Your best bet is to try to arrange for undercover parking. These are available at surprisingly reasonable prices. If you do this, then your trip away from Melbourne will not have to include regular, anxious checks of the weather reports back home in case there has been a storm!
