The Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) celebrates today’s announcement that Juneyao Airlines will launch three weekly direct flights from Shanghai to Melbourne Airport starting from December this year.
VTIC CEO Felicia Mariani said the announcement meant Juneyao Airlines would be the fourth airline to choose Melbourne Airport for its inaugural flights to Australia – driving international visitation to Melbourne and Victoria more broadly.
Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines all chose Melbourne as their launch destination for Australian services.
“This is fantastic news for Victoria as we welcome more international visitors flying into Melbourne Airport, particularly bringing mainland Chinese seat capacity above pre-pandemic levels” she said.
“These direct international services provide easy access to Melbourne and will drive visitation to our state, which is vital as we work to achieve the international spend and visitation levels we attracted in Victoria prior to the pandemic.
“As additional international carriers continue to choose Melbourne as their entry point into Australia, this also highlights the crucial importance of progressing the third runway at Melbourne Airport to ensure we can service growing demand for our destination.”
Recent forecasts from Tourism Research Australia for Tourism Growth in Victoria to 2028, indicated that the current 2.4 million international overnight visitors to our state will grow to 4.4 million by 2028. Spend from those visitors is also projected to grow by 40%, from the current $7.8 billion at end-March 2024, to $13.1 billion by 2028.
“Progressing the third runway at Melbourne Airport is vital to growing the state’s visitor eocnomy. At peak periods, our airport is already running at near capacity on the basis of the two runways they currently operate,”said Ms Mariani.
“If Melbourne is to realise our full growth potential to 2028, the third runway at Melbourne Airport is an essential ingredient to our success.”
