Frequent flyer Nev Power digs in for new role at Perth Airport

Former Fortescue Metals chief executive Nev Power has gone from a frequent flyer to chairman of Perth Airport.

Nev Power ahead of starting his new job as the chairman of Perth Airport. Picture: Colin Murty

As the chief executive of For­tescue Metals, Nev Power and his sea of high-visibility-clad workers inadvertently helped create the wave of demand that swamped Perth Airport during the height of the mining boom.

Now, as the airport’s new chairman, Mr Power will be central in ensuring that the airport doesn’t again find itself trying to play catch-up with demand.

Perth Airport was until ­recently notorious for its long queues and ageing facilities as it groaned under the weight of the mining boom.

Those stresses were only amplified by the widespread construction work across the airport as it scrambled to respond to that demand through a $1 billion ­investment program.

That work is finally complete, and, combined with the end of the resources construction boom, Perth Airport is slowly restoring its reputation.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission last week named Perth as the nation’s best major airport, surprising many of those still scarred from their boomtime experiences there.

For Mr Power, who spent seven years running Fortescue ­before stepping down earlier this year, Perth Airport would’ve ­almost have been a second home and he admits it struggled to cope with the last mining boom.

“It was not just a Perth Airport issue, the whole of Perth was stretched to cope with the numbers,” Mr Power said.

“We saw a shortage of hotel rooms, a shortage of transportation, bottlenecks through all parts of Perth.”

As chairman, it will be Mr Power who will have to make sure the airport’s management team keep building on the improvements of recent years.

The airport, which is owned by a collection of big Australian superannuation funds as well as the federal government’s Future Fund, already has plans for a ­further $2.5bn wave of investment, including the addition of a second runway, a new shopping precinct and a long-awaited rail link.

While the timing of the second runway is dependent on growth in demand, Mr Power is seeing signs of another looming wave of construction — including from his old shop Fortescue — around Western Australia.

“We’ve seen a start of growth in construction around the state, the iron ore companies are doing a lot of development over the next three or four years to replace production that’s been depleted, the oil and gas guys are getting active again, we’ve got lithium developments, gold developments, agriculture is continuing to build, so the state is very active,” he said.

On top of that is what he says is WA’s “untapped potential” to grow as a destination for tourism, health and education.

“To be able to play a role in helping develop critical infrastructure for the state and to be able to be part of such an important development going forward is fantastic,” he said.

“The airport has done a great job over the last five or six years to get to where it is — and we are very well positioned over the next five or six years to continue that journey.”

The chairmanship, which formally begins today, is Mr Power’s first corporate appointment since his departure from Fortescue Metals.

It is a natural progression for Mr Power, who apart from being a frequent traveller through the airport and a former chief executive of one of its biggest corporate users, is himself a passionate and experienced pilot.

More board roles are on his horizon, although he declares ­little interest in taking on any full-time executive positions.