Sunshine Coast’s Peter Pallot takes shot at regional airport neglect

Sunshine Coast Airport chief executive Peter Pallot believes regional air services could be in much better shape than they are.

Peter Pallot at Sunshine Coast Airport: ‘It’s not about a hand out, it’s about a hand up.’ Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/

As he prepares to draw the curtain on 40 years in aviation, Sunshine Coast Airport chief executive Peter Pallot says he believes regional air ser­vices could be in much better shape than they are now.

Since he took over the reins at Maroochydore in 2006, Pallot has seen the airport’s patronage double, added flights to New Zealand, a welcome return of Qantas and an upgrade of the entrance from a “tiny road” to a decent one.

Preparations also are being made to reconfigure the narrow runway to one capable of handling aircraft the size of A330s and B787s, a project that should be finished in 2020.

His one regret after 12 years in charge at Sunshine Coast Airport is not being able to lure services from Cairns.

More broadly, Pallot would like to see efforts made to open up more of Australia to international visitors.

“One of the major constraints a number of airports are now facing is the barriers to entry that are being put in place for them to do international work,” Pallot says.

“Customs, immigration and quarantine have become very ­expensive glass ceilings for ­regional airports to enter that space, and there is significant ­demand.

“We are looking for the dispersal of international tourists into regional areas, but if you’ve got to spend millions of dollars to service border agencies, it ­becomes a difficult prospect.”

The solution, he says, is one for the policymakers. “The federal government collects a passenger facilitation charge at $60 a passenger. It used to go into Border Force, now it goes into consolidated revenue. There needs to be a ­return (to regional airports).

“It’s not about a hand out, it’s about a hand up.”

It’s a view shared by Australian Airports Association chief executive Caroline Wilkie, who is lobbying the government on the importance of supporting international services in key locations.

“Direct international services can deliver a significant boost to local tourism, creating jobs and new business opportunities for communities,” Wilkie says. “It is essential these opportunities can be realised in regions where there is demand, to promote the dispersal of international visitors.”

Pallot’s passion for airports began as a child in Melbourne, where his father used to take him to Moorabbin to watch aircraft land and takeoff.

After getting his pilot’s licence in 1981, he worked for the Department of Transport in Adelaide.

“I was lucky enough to be a trainee airport inspector while I was studying engineering,” he says. “From there I moved up to Darwin and had about nine years working all over the Northern Territory before moving to Townsville in 1996.”

It was a period of change through the privatisation of many airports, including Townsville, and then came the fallout from the September 11, 2001, terror ­attacks in the US.

“That whole month changed the face of aviation as we know it, with 9/11 and then the collapse of Ansett in the space of a week,” Pallot says.

“As traumatic as it was, we’ve moved through that and, although we lost Ansett, Virgin was able to emerge and we saw the rise of the low-cost carrier in Jetstar.”

Although it will be the end of a significant part of his life, Pallot says he will take many happy memories with him.

Last month, Sunshine Coast Airport recorded the fastest passenger growth of any airport in the country, and in 2016 Pallot was honoured with the Australian ­Airports Association award for “most outstanding contribution” to the industry.

“To be recognised by my peers in this way was pretty awesome,” he says.

Wilkie says Pallot will be missed. “He has been a valued advocate, sounding board and mentor for many over his 40-year career, particularly in his home state of Queensland,” she says.