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Passengers at Melbourne Airport face several years of increasing congestion and delays after its managers decided to put their long-held plan for a third runway on hold, in favour of building it running in another direction.

The airport's chief executive Lyell Strambi said on Thursday that its plan for a new east-west runway, in place since 2013 and due to open in 2023, had been put on hold.

The airport now wants to build a new runway running north to south.

The east-west runway would have to be shut 17 per cent of the time due to wind interference, a new analysis revealed, rather than 5 per cent as previously thought.

“There will be a lot of days of the year when we won’t be able to use [either east-west runway] and we’ll be stuck with the north-south runway, so that in itself is quite problematic,” Mr Strambi said.

“That would say to us north-south looks like a better option," said Mr Strambi, who will now sit down with aviation authorities to "pressure-test" the revised plan.

Melbourne Airport’s master plan predicts it will hit maximum capacity next year, and that it will be plagued by delays if a new runway is not opened by 2023.


Melbourne Airport must now go back to the drawing board and create a new "master development plan" for a north-south runway , which needs to be approved by federal government. It will not open until about 2025.

News of the change of direction has alarmed local residents, who fear rising noise from flights over housing south of Tullamarine.

Frank Rivoli, from the Hume Residents Airport Action Group, says changing the direction of the third runway could "pit communities against communities", and that it would suit Melbourne Airport if residents bickered over which was best.

An east-west runway would generate more noise overhead in suburbs including Gladstone Park and Westmeadows.

The north-south plan would affect residents in neighbourhoods such as Keilor, St Albans and Tottenham.

"We're not here to say it should go east-west or north-south. It impacts local people and residents wherever it goes." He said new runways should be built "elsewhere ... not here where it is going to affect so many".

Mr Rivoli said the state government had not updated noise rules for suburbs surrounding the airport since 2003, and since then aircraft noise had become much worse. "A lot of people own properties who are being badly affected by airport noise, but under [Planning Minister Richard Wynne's] rules that doesn't matter."

Mr Wynne's office declined to comment on the issue.

A new north-south runway will cost about $1.5 billion, compared to $1.1 billion for the east-west option, because it is further away from the terminal and requires more groundwork.

However the airport's Mr Strambi said the an east-west runway would reach maximum capacity sooner than a north-south option because of the wind restrictions and a fourth runway would have to be built sooner than necessary.

Four runways in a “hashtag” formation remain the airport’s long-term plan, with the final runway to be built at some point after 2036.

Mr Strambi said the response from both government and his airlines customers to the construction delay had been "encouraging".

He said he hoped to have a firm decision on which runway to build within three months.

“Definitely delays will build through that period,” Mr Stambi said. “[But] it’s better to take the pain of that at this point in time if that means a better long-term decision.”

The move by Melbourne Airport will also have serious impacts on nearby Essendon Airport.

In Essendon's masterplan, released this year, it said that Melbourne Airport's previous indication it would opt for an east-west runway would force the smaller airport to follow suit.


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