Perth Airport looking for new CEO

Perth Airport is in the market for a new chief executive after announcing incumbent Brad Geatches will leave the company on July 1 2016.

Colin Beckett, the chairman of Perth Airport, said it was the right time for a change at the top and a global search for a new chief executive was underway.

“The next cycle of major capital investment and commercial discussions with airlines will commence next year, at the same time we are experiencing a change in the demand profile for aviation services,” Beckett said in a statement on Friday.

“The time is right for a new chief executive officer to join the company and make his or her mark during this time of change and opportunity.”

Beckett is the newest member of the Perth Airport board, having been appointed director and chairman in December 2014. He replaced outgoing chairman David Crawford, who retired from the board after 15 years in the role.

Geatches has been chief executive of Perth Airport for the past nine years, during which time the airport has delivered $1.1 billion worth of capital expenditure improvements highlighted by the opening of the new Terminal Domestic Pier in November.

It has also been a period of enormous growth at the airport, with the number of aircraft movements rising 31 per cent and passenger numbers swelling 52 per cent thanks to the mining boom and an increased number of international services.

However, construction on new T1 Domestic Pier, which cost $300 million, was delayed by 12 months due to the complexity of the project and some problems with steel purchased by the builders.

Beckett said Geatches led the company through a “dynamic and exciting period of growth”.

“Perth Airport is a completely different airport today, to what it was nine years ago. Brad has played a significant role in leading that transformation, and the public of Western Australia are now enjoying world-class facilities as a result,” Beckett said.

Geatches said the past nine years had been both “very challenging and enjoyable”.

“I feel privileged to have worked with such a great team of professional people and contractors, to deliver a capital investment program that has transformed Perth Airport,” Geatches said in the Perth Airport statement.