The first plane to take off from the airport was the Qantas QF530 City of Bendigo to San Francisco.
On board the inaugural flight were: the Victorian Minister for Tourism, Vance Oakley “Pat” Dickie; the manager of Qantas for Victoria and Tasmania, John Rowe; the press officer, Mr R. Voumard; the sales manager for the Melbourne offices, Ron Estella; various members of the public service; and a large group of media representatives, among them the editor of Il Globo, Ubaldo Larobina.
Pictured in the above photo are renowned columnist for The Sun News-Pictorial, Keith Dunstan (left) and his colleague, cartoonist Jeff Hook, on the stairs of the plane just before boarding.
The departure went smoothly despite the air hostesses having gone on strike.
Meanwhile, the first plane to land at the airport was an Alitalia aircraft from Rome.
To mark the occasion, the Italian flag carrier gifted Lord Mayor of Melbourne Edward Best a statue of the Capitoline Wolf on behalf of the City of Rome.
Pictured in the photo are the manager of Alitalia in Victoria, Italo Morgera (centre), and the captain, Mr Bellani (front), presenting the statue to Mayor Best.
