While it currently may resemble something of a ghost town due to the COIVD-19 outbreak, Melbourne Airport remains committed to building its third runway.
Jai McDermott, the airport’s executive of corporate and public affairs said the airport had taken a beating due to the heavy restrictions on travel, but said planning for the future shouldn’t stop.
“Coronavirus has hammered international and domestic travel in the short-term. We are still managing the impacts of that with our critical partners and suppliers on a daily basis. The airport is a big employment hub and that is top of mind,” Mr McDermott said.
“We think about the third runway as a 50 year asset so coronavirus is a short-term disruption in that context. Through the Ansett collapse, 9/11 and other major shocks, aviation has proven to be resilient and we are confident demand will return.
“So the runway is still needed and given the long lead time for consultation and approvals our work is continuing.”
Public consultation is a major issue for the airport.
Additional noise which would be generated by extra aircraft has been a hot issue in Brimbank. particularly the suburb of Keilor.
Mr McDermott said the airport would do its best to keep the lines of the communication with the community open.
“Clearly traditional consultation is pretty challenging when people are doing the right thing by staying home to prevent infection,” he said.
“We’ll monitor the situation carefully, but it doesn’t change our commitment to listen to our communities and take their views into account as we develop our runway proposal.
“In the meantime our community engagement team is still available, even if it’s on the end of the phone or a video call.”
The master plan for the third runway is scheduled to be put out for public consultation in early 2021.
