Airport West is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

, located within the

City of Moonee Valley The City of Moonee Valley is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, on Wurundjeri, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country. It comprises th ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. Airport West recorded a population of 8,173 at the . Bounded by the

Calder Highway Calder Highway is a rural highway in Australia, linking Mildura and the Victoria/New South Wales border to Bendigo, in North Central Victoria. South of Bendigo, where the former highway has been upgraded to freeway-standard, Calder Freeway li ...

to the south, the

Tullamarine Freeway The Tullamarine Freeway (commonly referred to as The Tulla), is a major urban freeway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, linking Melbourne Airport to the Melbourne City Centre. It carries up to 210,000 vehicles per day and is one of Australia ...

to the east, and the

Western Ring Road The M80 Ring Road (also known simply as the Ring Road or by the names of its constituent parts; the Western Ring Road and the Metropolitan Ring Road) is a partially complete urban freeway ring road around Melbourne, Australia. This article wi ...

to the north west, Airport West is so named for its position to the west of

Essendon Airport Essendon Fields Airport , colloquially known by its former name Essendon Airport, is a public airport serving scheduled commercial, corporate-jet, charter and general aviation flights. It is located next to the intersection of the Tullamarin ...

, Melbourne's first general airport now used for light planes, charter and freight since the opening in 1970 of

Melbourne Airport Melbourne Airport , known locally as Tullamarine Airport, is an international airport serving Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operating 24/7 service, 24 hours a day with on-site parking, shopping and dining, Melbourne Airport is the List of th ...

, located to the north of the suburb. It has the distinction of being the only locality in Australia which does not itself contain an airport to contain the word "Airport."

History

This area shares a postcode and, for a time, a name with neighboring Niddrie. In the late 1950s a group of aviation related businesses along Matthews Ave petitioned for a name which might better reflect their location and help their businesses. Before subdivision in the 50s and 60s, a large portion of Airport West were two farms known as Spring Park and Niddrie. The present Airport West post office opened on 22 November 1982. The Niddrie North office which opened in 1960 was known as Airport West between 1974 and 1982, before reverting to Niddrie North.

Demographics

According to the : Text was copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 4.0 International License
The most common ancestries in Airport West were Australian 18.3%, English 18.2%, Italian 17.7%, Irish 8.4% and Scottish 5.6%. In Airport West, 67.2% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were Italy 7.2%, India 2.6%, England 1.5%, Greece 1.4% and New Zealand 1.1%. The most common responses for religion in Airport West were Catholic 44.6%, No Religion, so described 21.8%, Not stated 8.7%, Anglican 6.0% and Eastern Orthodox 5.0%. In Airport West, Christianity was the largest religious group reported overall (69.2%) (this figure excludes not stated responses). In Airport West, 65.9% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Italian 10.8%, Greek 3.0%, Mandarin 1.4%, Maltese 1.1% and Hindi 1.1%.

Transport

Tram route 59 travels from

Westfield Airport West Airport West is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Airport West recorded a population of 8,173 at the . Bounded by th ...

(at Matthews Avenue), then runs via Matthews Avenue, Keilor Road,

Mount Alexander Road Mount Alexander Road (and its northern section as Bulla Road) is a major road in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs, connecting the northern edges of the city district to just south of Essendon Airport. It was named after its original destina ...

, Fletcher Street,

Pascoe Vale Road Pascoe Vale Road is a major thoroughfare through the northern suburbs of Melbourne, connecting the outer northern fringe to the inner northern suburbs. Route Pascoe Vale Road starts at the intersection with Somerton Road in Coolaroo, Victoria ...

, Mount Alexander Road,

Flemington Road Flemington Road is a major thoroughfare in the inner suburbs of North Melbourne and Parkville in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs for 2 km in a northwest–southeast direction, from the southern end of Mount Alexander Road, Flemington, ...

and then terminates at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Flinders Street, at Flinders Street station. In 1943 an extension into Essendon airport was paid for by the Federal government to facilitate workers getting into the airport to service RAAF and American military planes. this extension went up Matthews Avenue turning right into the Airport via Vaughan St. The Albion-Jacana freight line passes through Airport West near its north and west boundary. A railway line to Melbourne Airport via Airport West has been proposed under

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and He ...

2008 People Plan. The currently congested

and

interchange saw a redevelopment to help traffic flow easier in 2006–2007. Seven

bus routes A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used in ...

operated by

CDC Melbourne CDC Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It operates 55 bus routes under contract to Public Transport Victoria. It is one of the brands of CDC Victoria, which is in turn a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Australia. As a ...

and

Kastoria Bus Lines Kastoria Bus Lines is a bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Australia. It operates five routes under contract to Public Transport Victoria. It is owned by Northern Transit Holdings, which also operates Broadmeadows Bus Service, Nationwide Tou ...

also service the suburb, and a

Night Network ''Night Network'', ''Night Time'' and ''Night Shift'' were names given to the overnight (usually between 12 and 6am) schedule of the ITV (TV network), ITV network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24-hour broadcasting in 1986, ...

also operates around the area. Many of the street names follow aviation themes: * Australian WWI Aviators, such as: Harry Hawker, Elwyn King, etc. * Participants in the 1919 Britain-Australia air race, such as: Ray Parer and John McIntosh, George Fraser, Captain George Matthews, etc. * Australian Airmen killed in WWII Bombing Raids over Europe, such as: James Cameron, Philip Hart, Fletcher Green, Raymond Earl, George York, Lyle Bowes, and Charles Walters.Airport West Historical Walk/Ride/Run, May 2024, The Airport West History Group

Commerce

Westfield Airport West is a shopping center that was built in the northern corner of the suburb. Opening in 1976 and undergoing redevelopments in 1982 and 1999, it includes

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

, Coles, Woolworths,

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

and a

Village Cinemas Village Cinemas is an Australian-based multinational film exhibition brand that mainly shows blockbusters, mainstream, children and family films and some arthouse, foreign language and documentary films. Since 2003, its Australian sites bec ...

complex. Other shopping areas in the suburb are also located on McNamara Avenue. The suburb contains much light industrial, manufacturing, and freight businesses due to its proximity to

and Essendon DFO. Skyways Hotel was not the first hotel on this site. In the 1850s the Traveler's Rest Inn was established here on the road to Bulla. In 1962 The International Hotel opened boasting one of the longest public bars in Australia at 120 feet. Sometime in the 90s it became Skyways. In 2014 it featured as the key location of the movie 'Mule' starring Angus Sampson and Hugo Weaving.

Educational facilities

Airport West has one government primary school (Niddrie PS), a Catholic primary school (St. Christopher's PS) and a secondary school ( Niddrie Campus, Essendon Keilor College). There is also the Bravissimi Italian Language School.

Sport

Airport West Football Club, an

Australian Rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

football team, competes in the

Essendon District Football League The Essendon District Football League (EDFL) is a semi-professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competi ...

. North West Wolves play rugby league in

NRL Victoria NRL Victoria (abbreviated as NRLVic, and formerly the Victorian Rugby League) is responsible for administering the game of rugby league in Victoria, Australia. Victoria is an Affiliated State of the overall Australian governing body the National ...

Notable people

Ben Carroll Benjamin Alan Carroll (born 12 July 1975) is an Australian politician and lawyer and has been the current deputy premier of Victoria since October 2023. He has been the deputy leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) s ...

, Victorian politician *

Brian Mannix Brian Mannix (born 7 October 1961 in Melbourne) is an Australian rock music singer and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of 1980s band Uncanny X-Men. He was a regular on television quiz show '' Spicks and Specks''. Career 1981–1987: ...

, singer and musician * Mark Thompson, VFL/AFL player and coach *

Hayden Kennedy Hayden Kennedy (born 16 October 1965) is a former Australian rules football field umpire in the Australian Football League (AFL) and is also a teacher at St. Bernard's College, Melbourne. After five AFL Grand Finals and a then-record 495 game ...

, AFL Umpire * Justin Madden, AFL player for Essendon and Carlton, Labor Politician *

Simon Madden Simon Madden (born 30 December 1957) is a former Australian rules footballer who played his entire 19-season career with the Essendon Football Club from 1974 until 1992. Madden is one of the most decorated players in the club's history and wi ...

, AFL Player for Essendon FC * Ash Naylor, MusicianPioneers, Celebrities and Legends, The Airport West History Group, May 2024 * Christine Harris, Australian Netball player

References

{{City of Moonee Valley suburbs Suburbs of Melbourne Suburbs of the City of Moonee Valley