I have approved Moorabbin Airport’s 2010 Master Plan which sets out its strategic direction and intended uses over the coming two decades.

In accordance with the Master Plan and consistent with the Government’s Aviation White Paper, the Airport will take immediate steps to improve the way it engages nearby communities and responds to their concerns about safety and noise.

Firstly, the Airport will establish a new Planning Coordination Forum which brings together representatives from neighbouring councils and the Victorian Government to make sure its future developments are more consistent with local planning and take into account the capacity of the surrounding road infrastructure.

Importantly, the Airport has agreed not to allow the construction of non-aeronautical facilities such as large retail outlets on its land until they have undertaken at least 60 days of extensive public consultations and received approval from the Federal Transport Minister.

One of the Forum’s early agenda items will be a possible relocation of helicopter operations.

Secondly, the Airport will work with my Department, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Airservices, local instructors and the community to assess whether modifications to the existing training circuits would further reduce noise and improve safety over residential areas. I expect this work to take no longer than twelve months to complete.

In addition to these new measures which will give the community greater input into decisions that will ultimate affect their quality of life, the Moorabbin Airport Aviation Consultative Committee and ‘Fly Friendly’ arrangements will remain in place, meaning:

• On weeknights circuit training must cease by 10pm in the months of daylight saving and by 9pm during the rest of the year, with nightfall the cut-off on weekends;


• Fixed wing aircraft must remain above 1,000 feet over residential areas.

The Master Plan also foreshadows and allows the Airport to:

• Build additional aviation infrastructure such as hangars, maintenance facilities and parking bays, as well as provide for engineering and avionics businesses;


• Upgrade the runways, taxiways and terminal aprons; and


• Install better stormwater drainage and new water storage facilities.

Moorabbin Airport is and will remain a vital piece of aviation infrastructure, creating local jobs and training up to 800 would-be commercial pilots a year. However its operators have a responsibility to be good neighbours, mindful that their Airport’s day-to-day operations impact on the lives of those living around it.

The Airport now has 50 business days to make its Master Plan public.