Essendon Airport

Essendon Airport Melbourne/Essendon
IATA: MEB ICAO: YMEN
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Zavanti Holdings Pty. Ltd.
Operator	Essendon Airport Pty. Ltd.
Serves	Melbourne
Location	Essendon Fields
Elevation AMSL	282 ft / 86 m
Coordinates	37°43′41″S 144°54′07″E / 37.72806°S 144.90194°E / -37.72806; 144.90194Coordinates: 37°43′41″S 144°54′07″E / 37.72806°S 144.90194°E / -37.72806; 144.90194
Website	www.essendonairport.com.au
Map
YMEN Location in Melbourne
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 08/26 1,921 6,302 Asphalt 17/35 1,504 4,934 Asphalt
Statistics (2006)
Movements 60,000+
Sources: Australian AIP and aerodrome chart Statistics from Essendon Airport

Essendon Airport (IATA: MEB, ICAO: YMEN) is a 305 ha (750 acres) public airport serving scheduled commercial, corporate-jet, charter and general aviation flights. It is located next to the intersection of the Tullamarine and Calder Freeways, in the northern suburb of Essendon Fields of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The airport is the closest to Melbourne's City Centre, approximately a 13 km (8.1 mi) drive north-west from it and 8 km (5.0 mi) south-east from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. In 1970, Tullamarine Airport replaced Essendon as Melbourne's main airport.

The area of the airport was originally known as St Johns, after an early landowner. The airport was proclaimed by the Commonwealth Government in 1921, as Essendon Aerodrome. For some time prior to proclamation, the aerodrome had been used by the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Aero Club (renamed the Royal Victorian Aero Club), having initially been based at Point Cook. The Aero Club remained at Essendon until the late 1940s when it transferred to Moorabbin Airport.

Originally the airport had grass runways with the first tenants moving in from December 1921, including H.J. Larkin, Captain Matthews, Bob Hart and Major Harry Shaw.

The 1920s period saw the great pioneering aviation flights of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith who visited the airport on several occasions. In August 1926, 60,000 people swarmed across the grassy fields of Essendon Airport upon the arrival of aviation pioneer Alan Cobham when he landed his de Havilland DH.50 floatplane, flown from England to Australia.