A positive outlook for Cairns and Mackay airports

Cairns Airport and Mackay Airport entered an exciting new era in late 2008/early 2009 when they were purchased by North Queensland Airports.

North Queensland Airports is an investment consortium comprised of IIF Cairns Mackay Investment Pty Ltd (an entity advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management), The Private Capital Group's The Infrastructure Fund (TIF) managed by Hastings, and the Westpac Banking Corporation.

The consortium appointed Queensland Airports Limited to provide specialist airport services to both Cairns and Mackay Airports.

In May Stephen Gregg was appointed by the Boards of Cairns Airport Pty Ltd and Mackay Airport Pty Ltd to the position of Chief Executive Officer for those companies.

Mr Gregg brought with him over 30 years of experience in aviation and tourism as he took on the role to lead the newly privatised airports to a robust future that will help the Queensland regions they service continue to develop and prosper.

Mr Gregg said that development of a new Master Plan for both airports was a high priority.

"These plans will take into account future land use and growth opportunities for Cairns and Mackay Airports and we will undertake considerable stakeholder engagement as work begins on this process,"
Mr Gregg said.

Cairns Airport - International and Domestic Gateway
Over the past 25 years, Tropical North Queensland has established itself as a premier international and domestic tourism destination.

This has seen Cairns Airport grow to become one of Australia's largest regional airports, with 3.1 million domestic and over 735,000 international passenger movements recorded for the 2008/2009 financial year.

Cairns Airport offers a direct link with numerous Australian and international destinations, offering easy access for visitors and giving the local population opportunities to plan holidays and conduct business.

Mr Gregg said the economy in Cairns and Tropical North Queensland relied strongly on tourism, and its growth and that of the airport were inextricably linked.

"These are challenging times and aviation into Cairns has, as in the rest of the world, been adversely impacted by the global financial crisis and swine flu in recent times," Mr Gregg said.

"These factors have further exacerbated an existing downturn in our key international market of Japan."

Cairns Airport has been working closely with key partners including Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Australia and airlines to consolidate existing markets.

"In the current economic climate it is our priority to work with airline partners to ensure their existing routes into Cairns are sustainable.

"We also continue to build new partnerships and look forward to working with all our airline partners to develop new routes to link with key emerging markets once conditions are again conducive to such expansion," Mr Gregg said.

There has been some good news, with the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, announcing earlier this year that Jetstar intends to reintroduce a direct Cairns - Osaka service in December 2009 with four flights per week.

Jetstar also introduced a direct service between Cairns and the Gold Coast earlier in 2009, with three flights per week providing a link for Japanese visitors arriving into the Gold Coast from Osaka.

$200m domestic terminal redevelopment
Cairns Airport is continuing with its current major project, a $200m Domestic Terminal Redevelopment.

On its completion in 2010 Cairns Airport will boast a spacious Domestic Terminal, twice the size of its previous building.

Mr Gregg said the biggest challenge of the project had been undertaking the redevelopment while maintaining a fully functional terminal.

"This has required considerable strategic management to ensure the needs of all stakeholders including airlines, service companies, passengers, visitors, tenants, construction companies are considered and provided with up to date information," Mr Gregg said.

On completion there will be a common-user check-in area and common-user arrivals hall for streamlined passenger flows and a spacious departures lounge with more retail opportunities.

There will be five aerobridges and an extended apron area for improved aircraft access.

Upgrades to access roads, carparks, transport facilities, pedestrian plaza and walkways are included in the civil works component.

Mackay Airport - towards one million
Mackay provides a very competitive gateway to the Whitsunday coast and islands, and due to the diversity of carriers servicing the airport and the region's increasing popularity as a tourism destination, strong growth is expected in the area.

As one of Queensland's busiest regional airports, Mackay Airport handled a record 940,137 passengers during 2008/2009, an increase of 13 per cent over the previous financial year and its eighth
consecutive year of growth.

As Mackay Airport heads towards recording one million passengers per year, it enjoys a good mix of business, commercial/industrial, and leisure clientele which provides many opportunities to build the revenue base, working with airline partners and other stakeholders.

Mackay Airport benefits from the services of a diverse range of airlines.

The introduction of various new direct services by Virgin Blue, Jetstar and Tiger Airways, and the services provided by QantasLink, connecting Mackay with Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and many of Queensland's regional centres, have all contributed to a strong surge in airport traffic growth over the past few years and are a good indication of new opportunities to be explored for the future.

The growth achieved at Mackay Airport, bringing with it increased flight frequency and larger aircraft, has also created additional demand for a $6.8m upgrade to the Baggage Handling System and an extension of the Baggage Make-Up Area.

This project was largely complete by the end of 2008 and included the installation of Checked Bag Screening x-ray machines.

The expanded work area minimises potential congestion and allows for future growth.

Another recent development was the $2.2m expansion to the Western General Aviation area.

This development included an expansion of the apron to meet demand in growth from fixed wing and helicopter operations that service tourism island transfers and coal industry charters.

It also included a $1.4m development of the landside area which has increased the number of sites available for lease.

The project was completed in 2008, despite delays caused by heavy rainfall experienced in the region.

Mackay Airport was pleased to welcome Tiger Airways to the region when that airline selected Mackay as one of its first four Australian destinations.

Tiger commenced operations at Mackay in November 2007, opening a new direct route from Melbourne and offering four A320 services a week.

Virgin Blue introduced an additional two daily services to Brisbane and their direct Sydney service is now a daily operation.

Virgin Blue introduced two Embraer E-jets last year and QantasLink replaced their Dash 8 Brisbane service with a Fokker 100 jet.

Red Spot car hire commenced operations at Mackay Airport during 2007/2008, adding to the diversity of the airport's rental car product offer.

An additional 39 rental car parking bays were created, bringing the total number to 237.

CQ Rescue constructed a new hangar building adjacent to their existing facility.

Towards a positive future
Several major senior appointments have been made within both Mackay Airport Pty Ltd and Cairns Airport Pty Ltd, with some still outstanding, including the position of General Manager Mackay Airport.

John Andrejic is the Chief Financial Officer for both companies.

For Cairns Airport, as GM Aviation, Robert Evans is now responsible for aviation marketing, operations, security and safety.

Kate McCreery-Carr heads up Commercial and Terminals and all related areas such as terminal and ground transport operations, apron coordination, retail, advertising, brand, marketing and customer service.

Greg Eisenmenger is responsible for Asset Services covering engineering, drafting, planning, electrical, grounds and building services.

Allan Wallis is the Project Director for the Cairns Airport Domestic Terminal Redevelopment and a Manager Property is yet to be appointed at the time of writing.