Major Australian airport advising of half-hour delays during school holidays

Travellers using Melbourne Airport in Tullamarine over the next two weeks are being warned to watch out for 30-minute traffic delays due to roadworks, during one of the busiest periods of the year.

More than 1.7 million people are expected to travel through the airport over the school holidays, as well as for the AFL Grand Final on 28 September with three out of four teams coming from interstate.

On the 27 September Grand Final public holiday alone, more than 114,000 people are tipped to be passing through the airport.

As a result, Melbourne Airport is recommending people allow an extra 30 minutes of travel time these school holidays, as the area around the drop-off and pick-up zones is likely to be gridlocked and to use the Terminal 4 carpark instead.

The airport is currently upgrading its terminal road network to deliver a quicker, traffic light free journey to the terminals and new dedicated passenger pick-up and drop-off zones.

Due to the construction, Centre Road will be closed inbound to travellers from Sunbury Road on Monday 7:00 am to 10:00 am, and Thursday, Friday and Sunday 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

“We have scaled back works on our road upgrades throughout the school holiday to accommodate the influx of passengers, but we know there will still be some impact to travellers,” said Melbourne Airport Chief of Ground Transport, Property and Retail Jai McDermott.

“We apologise for the inconvenience, but with growing passenger numbers it’s essential we upgrade our road network to reduce future delays.”