Sydney Airport chief announces his planned departure and says it’s a ‘tough call’

Sydney Airport chief Geoff Culbert will leave the post in December, sparking a global search for his replacement.

Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert has resigned. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Sydney Airport chief executive Geoff Culbert has announced his plan to leave the gateway at the end of the year, describing it as a “tough call but the right call”.

Mr Culbert joined the publicly listed Sydney Airport as CEO in January 2018. It was sold for $32bn to an aviation alliance led by Global Infrastructure Partners in early 2022.

Before joining Sydney Airport, Mr Culbert spent 15 years at GE – most recently as the president and chief executive of GE Australia and New Zealand.

In a note to staff seen by The Australian, Mr Culbert said three factors influenced his decision to leave – the strength of the recovery, the status of his team and personal reasons.

“Starting with the business, it feels like 2019 again. The passenger recovery is really taking hold and our operational resilience is back to where it should be,” Mr Culbert wrote.

“At the same time I feel really satisfied with where the team is at. We have an experienced, settled and capable team with the right mix of skills and experience.”

On a more personal note, Mr Culbert said his youngest child was finishing school this year, so he and his wife would be “empty nesters” next year.

“After being hard at it for over 30 years, it’s time for me to take a breath,” he said.

There was no other job lined up, and Mr Culbert said he had no plans beyond “being here until the end of December”.

“The board will be conducting a global search for my replacement and once that process is finalised I’ll be working to support the new CEO in their transition into the role,” he said.

“I want to emphasise that this was a really tough call for me because I love this place. It’s going to be really hard to say goodbye, but it’s the right call.”

In a brief statement, airport chair David Gonski paid tribute to Mr Culbert’s achievements, particularly during the difficult Covid-19 years.

“We are enormously appreciative of Geoff’s skilled leadership during one of the most significant and disruptive periods in aviation history,” Mr Gonski said.

“This includes managing the airport through the pandemic when traffic was devastated by

border closures, the recent rapid recovery, and dealing with the largest take-private

transaction in Australian corporate history.”

One of Australia’s more outspoken CEOs, Mr Culbert took on a higher profile during the pandemic, describing state border closures as “un-Australian”.

He spoke out about the absence of clear rules and warned that isolating Australia through an international travel ban was costing the economy $250m a day, or $7.6bn a month.

More recently Mr Culbert took aim at domestic airlines, blaming the sluggish recovery in domestic passenger numbers on high airfares and constrained capacity.

The latest passenger data released by Sydney Airport, showed traffic was back to almost 84 per cent of pre-pandemic figures in April, with the international recovery gaining momentum.