Prior to the opening of Melbourne Airport, Victoria's main airport was Essendon Airport. Designated an international airport in 1950, Essendon experienced rapid growth in the post-war period. By the mid-1950s, rising passenger numbers exposed significant limitations: runways were too short for large jet aircraft, and terminal facilities were inadequate. An international overflow terminal was established in a new northern hangar, but further expansion was impossible as the airport had become surrounded by residential subdivisions. The search for a replacement for Essendon commenced in February 1958, when a panel was appointed to assess Melbourne's civil aviation needs. Alternative sites considered were Tullamarine (14.5 km from Melbourne), Whittlesea (35 km), Hastings (60 km), Port Melbourne (5 km), Werribee (32 km), Laverton (19 km), Avalon (58 km) and Moorabbin (19 km). Considerations such as superior proximity to Melbourne and lower development costs narrowed the choice to either Tullamarine or Laverton, with Laverton eventually eliminated in part due to issues coordinating both military and civil activities that could not guarantee the degree of safety demanded, and that traffic coordination would be easier with the shorter distance between Essendon and Tullamarine. In May 1959, it was officially announced that the Commonwealth Government had acquired 5,300 hectares of rural grassland in Tullamarine to build the new Melbourne Airport. Preliminary approval was granted in March 1960, and intense planning resulted over the following two years. In 1962, Prime Minister Robert Menzies formally adopted a five-year master plan which aimed to develop the airport by 1967. Construction began in November 1964. In 1966, it was announced that Paul Fayman, Leon Velik, Joseph Emanuel and Irvin Rockman had partnered with the Petersville Corporation to operate and manage the airport's several restaurants and bars. This included the prominent Top Air restaurant, which overlooked the airport and its operations. The following year, an affiliate company obtained the lease of a large vacant space adjacent to the future terminal building and released plans to build an aviation-themed entertainment complex. Known as the Astrojet Space and Science Centre, it had a 300-seat cinema, an observation deck, shops, cafes and aviation exhibits with a guided-tour service. A Travelodge hotel with 240 beds and a service station were developed on adjoining land. On 1 July 1970, Prime Minister John Gorton opened Melbourne Airport to international operations. This ended Essendon's nearly two-decade run as Melbourne's international airport. Essendon still was home to domestic flights for one year, until they transferred to Melbourne Airport on 26 June 1971, with the first arrival of a Boeing 747 occurring later that year. In the first year of operations, Melbourne handled six international airlines and 155,275 international passengers. Melbourne Airport was originally called "Melbourne International Airport". It is at Tullamarine, a name derived from the indigenous name Tullamareena. Locally, the airport is commonly referred to as Tullamarine or simply as Tulla to distinguish the airport from the other three Melbourne airports: Avalon, Essendon and Moorabbin. On opening, Melbourne Airport consisted of three connected terminals: International in the centre, with Ansett to the South and Trans Australia Airlines to the North. The design capacity of the airport was eight Boeing 707s at a rate of 500 passengers per hour, with minor expansion works completed in 1973 allowing Boeing 747s to serve the airport. By the late 1980s peak passenger flows at the airport had reached 900 per hour, causing major congestion. In late 1989, Federal Airports Corporation Inspector A. Rohead was put in charge of a bicentennial project to rename streets in Melbourne Airport to honour the original inhabitants, European pioneers and aviation history.