Plane sailing drives dream
CAIRNS AIRPORT’S NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE IS TAKING A BACK-TO-BASICS APPROACH TO RECOGNISING TRAVELLERS’ NEEDS AND GROWING TOURISM, WRITES HAYDEN SMITH
Running successful airports comes with untold complexities, but Cairns’ newest corporate high-flyer Norris Carter believes in the basics.
RUNNING successful airports comes with untold complexities, but Cairns’ newest corporate high-flyer Norris Carter believes in the basics.
“An airport is ultimately about getting people and freight off and on to planes ... as efficiently and safely as possible,” he said.
“If you’ve got that, then you can build on things like attracting shopping, add new airlines and grow. That’s how I think about it.”
After more than 15 years in the aviation industry, the 49year-old is now in the cockpit of Australia’s fastest-growing airport, having replaced Kevin Brown as North Queensland Airports chief executive.
He will oversee the consortium’s airports in Cairns and Mackay.
The son of a doctor and a nurse, he was born in Melbourne before moving to Adelaide when he was five.
Fascinated by “how things work”, he studied electrical engineering and computer science at University of Adelaide.
He worked with IBM in Sydney for four years and then earned an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.
“I really got interested in understanding how companies worked and businesses made money,” Mr Carter said.
From 1996 to 2000 he worked with The Boston Consulting Group before taking on a role at Qantas, where he spent more than 14 years.
Based in Sydney, Mr Carter was heavily involved in creating the company’s Frequent Flyer business and lucrative partnership with Emirates.
“I had done plenty of travelling and it was fascinating to be on the other side of that,” he said.
From November 2014 to last month, Mr Carter was general manager of aeronautic commercial at Auckland International Airport, a 25 per cent shareholder of NQA.
Primed for the role, Mr Carter took over as NQA chief executive earlier this month, just days before Korean airline Jin Air landed its first direct flight to Australia at Cairns Airport.
Mr Carter said attracting more international airlines to the Far North was his primary goal.
“They are the lifeblood of an airport business and feeding into the tourism businesses around Cairns is growth in those international passengers,” he said.
His tenure comes during an extraordinary growth period for Cairns Airport.
November statistics released this week show a 15.4 per cent rise in international
passengers from the same month last year with about 53,000 people passing through the terminal.
Mr Carter was also buoyed by the recent announcement that the State Government would join an industry effort to lure year-round direct services between Cairns and mainland China.
“It gives us something a bit more concrete to help push it over the line,” he said.
“Chinese tourism has been growing at unbelievable rates worldwide. The demand potential is there.”
He said Cairns Airport
I REALLY GOT INTERESTED IN UNDERSTANDING HOW COMPANIES WORKED AND BUSINESSES MADE MONEY NORRIS CARTER
would also work towards making it “more efficient” for North Americans and Europeans to visit the Far North.
“That’s the opportunity – how do we better serve the people who come here?” Mr Carter said.
He said improving connec- tion with India, the world’s second most populous country and tipped for long-term economic growth, was also “on the radar”.
But, while Cairns Airport has a longstanding vision for a 20-year redevelopment worth about $1 billion, applying for funding through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) is not on Mr Carter’s short-term agenda.
“Users of the airport don’t want to see us building stuff that isn’t necessary ... because then they have to pay for it,” he said. “We haven’t got an application in ... we’re exploring what we might do. What a masterplan gives you is confidence to go out and build the business. It’s not iron-clad.”
Mr Carter lives in Cairns City with his partner Mark.
While aware of his role’s importance towards growing the Far North, it is clear he has landed his dream job.
“Once, I was sitting in a departure lounge watching the ballet of things that happen when an aircraft comes in and lands,” Mr Carter said.
“Now, quite a few years later, here I am working in airports and looking after that ballet.”