Melbourne steals march with second airport plan Avalon Airport. Melbourne is poised to leap ahead of Sydney and gain a second international airport, after the governments of Australia and the Philippines agreed to operate direct flights to and from Avalon airport. The two cities have been vying to be the first to establish a second international airport. Avalon represents the single greatest opportunity for economic growth in our region. Australia and the Philippines signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday that a Philippine airline could fly directly between Manila and Avalon airports once a day. The agreement means Avalon is free to strike its own deal with a Philippine airline. It is understood Philippine airline Cebu Pacific Air has already written to the Commonwealth signalling its desire to fly in and out of Avalon, 56 kilometres south-west of Melbourne. Justin Giddings, Avalon Airport's chief executive, said the next step for the airport to achieve international status was to lock in an agreement with a Philippine airline, then establish customs and quarantine facilities. He said this would pave the way for the airport to attract airlines from other countries. Avalon at present has a handful of domestic flights a day. Mr Giddings said it was crucial to Geelong's future economic prosperity that it developed into an international gateway like Tullamarine. "Avalon represents the single greatest opportunity for economic growth in our region," he said. Victoria's Coalition government promised to begin building a rail link to Avalon in its first term but has made slow progress so far, releasing a report in January detailing three potential corridors. Mr Giddings said he was concerned that the government had "gone a bit quiet" about the rail link. "We have a strategic advantage over Sydney for the first time in a long time now," said Richard Marles, the federal Labor MP for Corio, in Geelong's north. Sydney [airport] is full. Tullamarine is not full but being able to solve the second airport question before it even becomes a problem ... gives us an opportunity.