Collectivité

Avalon Airport Australia Pty Ltd

1952 - current

Avalon Airfield also known as ‘Avalon Airport’ has played a key role in Australia’s Aviation and space flight industry.

In 1952, the Commonwealth Government purchased 4,333 acres of land in Lara, close to Geelong, for testing and construction of aircrafts. The Canberra Jet Bomber Aircraft being the first flight to be tested at Avalon Airfield in June 1953.

Other test flights and flights making the newspapers at the time include:

• In July 1954, Australia’s first production-line Sabre jetfighter.

• In September 1956, Britain's Vulcan jet bomber makes a new record, flying from England to Avalon Airfield after only 22 hours flying. Being the first aircraft to fly non-stop from Singapore to Melbourne.

• In 1963, the first Australian assembled Mirage.

• In July 1971, Australian Government Aircraft Factory's Project N.

Unfortunately, in August 1976, another prototype N24 Nomad crashed at Avalon killing Stuart Pearce (father of actor Guy Pearce) and designer David Hooper. The stated cause of the accident was "flutter from experimental control tabs".

In July 1990, Aerospace Technologies of Australia (ASTA) purchased a 99 year lease over the Avalon Airfield for airline training, education services and aircraft production and maintenance operations.

In early 1997, Linfox purchased Avalon Airport from the Commonwealth and greatly upgraded the infrastructure and facilities in preparation for commercial passenger airline use.

On 1 June 2004, the first domestic flight with Jetstar occurred at Avalon offering limited routes at first.

In 2010, Tigerair commenced operations, but were unsuccessful and short-lived.

In 2018, Avalon Airport commenced international flights. With government funding assistance, Air Asia X moved their twice daily Kuala Lumpur services from Tullamarine to Avalon. This move connected the Victorian region to more than 130 places throughout Asia.

Today Avalon Airport:

• Is both a commercial passenger airport and a General Aviation airport.

• Continues to host the Australian International Airshow every 2nd year.

• Currently offers Jetstar flights for Sydney, Adelaide and the Gold Coast, AirAsia flights for Kuala Lumpur and Citilink flights for Bali.

Révisé

Revised 2020-08-10