The inside story of how celebrities and VIPs travel through Melbourne Airport
From royalty to rock stars and US presidents, some of the world’s most famous and powerful VIPs have landed at Melbourne Airport. Here’s how they sneak through the terminals with no queues, paparazzi or security mishaps.
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For 15 years, Tom Barber was often the first Australian face visiting VIPs saw when they landed at Melbourne Airport.
As airside operations manager from 1994 to 2000 and duty manager from 2000 to 2009, it was part of his job to greet and smooth the way for the world’s most famous and powerful people as they arrived at or departed from Tullamarine.
“Facilitation” involved greeting celebrities at their plane, walking them through the terminal (sometimes accompanied by federal police), taking them to a special VIP room while Customs officers examined their baggage, looking after any specific requests and finally guiding them to their transport from the airport.
A departing celebrity would be met kerbside as they arrived out the front on the departures levels, and would be guided in the same way to their flight.
For heads of state, facilitation was much more complex, involving many more people and many weeks of planning.
Ahead of US President George Bush Sr’s 1992 visit, Mr Barber oversaw security negotiations with local agencies, the Air Force One team, White House security and the US Secret Service — and layers of protocol. “Managing that operation was huge,” he says.
But it wasn’t until a private visit a few years later that Mr Barber actually met Mr Bush.
“You don’t meet nicer people than Texans. He was still Mr President, but he was a lovely man,” he says.
Everyone from royalty to rock gods and heads of state have been among the 769 million passengers through Melbourne Airport’s gates in its 50 years.
These are some of Mr Barber’s most memorable encounters:
QUEEN ELIZABETH II, PRINCESS DI AND CHARLES
Prince Charles was “very proper” but the Queen and Princess Diana — who visited Melbourne in 1993 and 1995 — were “down to earth”, says Mr Barber.
His family joined the throngs of fans on the tarmac welcoming the royals to Melbourne — and were lucky enough to get their own personal moments.
“Once, Princess Diana walked up to my son, Tristan, and said, ‘Hello, I’ve got a little boy about your age’. I thought how lovely it was for her to bend down and speak to Tristan,” he says.
“My mum once said to the Queen, ‘You brought the good weather with you, Your Majesty’. The Queen stopped and said, ‘What’s the weather been like?’ Everyone was gobsmacked.”
KYLIE MINOGUE
Homegrown pop princess Kylie Minogue was just as laidback.
“Kylie Minogue might be on a 10pm flight. We’d meet her kerbside, check her in, walk her through Customs, take her to the lounge and then to her flight. She was a joy. She’d wear a pair of jeans and runners. She could have been any kid walking with you,” says Mr Barber.
GENE SIMMONS AND KISS
He became friendly with KISS bassist Gene Simmons after Mr Barber guided him through the airport when he landed for a book tour.
Their interaction started with a joke. Mr Barber approached him at the departure gate, slightly later than expected after being caught up with an urgent issue.
Simmons was sitting on his own on a couch in Customs.
“I said, ‘Are you Gene Simmons?’. He said: ‘Well, there’s no one else around, is there?’
“I said, ‘It’s a good thing I saw you on TV the other week at the motorbike races so I could recognise you’, and he said, ‘Did you expect me to have all my make-up on?’, and we just had this really good banter. We had a lot of fun.”
When Simmons returned to the airport for his flight home, he asked Mr Barber to join him for a coffee — and stayed so long he was the last to board his flight.
“Some months later, KISS arrived and I could hear this voice saying, ‘Hello, Tom! It’s Gene! Great to see you!’,” he says.
Mr Barber, his children and his team scored invites to the KISS show and after-party.
On departure, Simmonds told Mr Barber about the collection of KISS memorabilia in his LA office. “Then he said, ‘Here’s my address and phone number. If you’re in LA, call me’,” says Mr Barber.
“KISS was lots of fun. Paul Stanley was an absolute gentleman. Peter Criss was a tearaway. Tommy Thayer was a dark horse. Gene is a showman, a really decent guy.”
SHANE WARNE
Though Mr Barber never experienced “diva demands” from jet-lagged celebrities, accommodating VIP requests was part of the job.
Cricket legend Shane Warne had only one request – a cigarette – after flying from London direct to an airport media conference amid a 2006 sex scandal.
“He said, ‘I’m so glad to be back. I’m dying for a smoke’. I took him down a secret corridor to a place we called smokers’ corner,” Mr Barber recalls.
“It was two minutes before the press conference. He said, ‘I’ll be quick’. Then he went to face the music. Sometimes you have to put yourself in their place.”
JOHN HOWARD
Australian pollies often visited and former PM John Howard was “a delight”.
“One time, in the Emirates lounge, all Mr Howard wanted was to sit in front of the TV and watch the cricket. He didn’t want a private room. He just sat with the public, and it was a joy to see,” says Mr Barber, who retired aged 60 in 2009.
LUCIANO PAVAROTTI
One of Mr Barber’s favourite encounters was with tenor Luciano Pavarotti, on his final visit to Melbourne in 2005.
“I went to on to the aircraft to meet him. I went to make sure he was OK. His assistant said, ‘Don’t touch him’. He got out of his seat, and gave me a big hug. I thought, ‘What a nice man’,” he says.
“He wasn’t well. We saw his show; it was a little sad. He couldn’t reach all the high notes, but the atmosphere was electric.”
A WELL-OILED CELEB MACHINE
Mr Barber’s team would research VIPs to help build rapport and inform conversations when they met.
“If we were to meet someone, we needed the background information and if we didn’t have it, we’d chase it up ourselves, so they had a good impression of the airport,” he says.
“I think our procedures were so slick that they all loved it. To my knowledge, there were never major problems because it was all done so seamlessly.”
Security was the key thing to get right, he says.
“Our issue was always security, in the sense of a VIP getting overwhelmed with people wanting a photo or an autograph. If they are walking through with somebody in a uniform like a duty manager, or the Customs, or the police, people tend not to approach,” he says.
“The Customs guys we worked with were brilliant. We’d sometimes have a senior Customs guy meet (celebrities) also, and run ahead with their (entry declaration) card to make sure everything was under control.
“The last thing we’d want for anyone who is really popular to make a fuss at the airport in a public place. It doesn’t look good for them or for the airport.”
Melbourne Airport is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week. Read more in Weekend on Saturday and get your free commemorative poster in your Sunday Herald Sun on July 5.
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