Infratil puts new man in charge of Kent airport

Listed infrastructure company Infratil has appointed a former London City Airport executive, Charles Buchanan, to run its Kent International Airport at Manston in Britain.

Buchanan, a former civil engineer, takes up the top job at Manston after the departure of former chief executive Matt Clarke.

Infratil bought the airport out of receivership in 2005.

Clarke headed Kent when it attempted last year to persuade a big airline, British Airways World Cargo, to switch its long-haul operations to the airport, but the airline stayed put at its hub at Stansted, north of London.

The New Zealander said at the time that he was disappointed but still upbeat about attracting more airlines.

After that, Clarke returned to New Zealand to work on Infratil's operations here, and Manston was run by interim chief executive Tom Wilson, who is head of Infratil's other UK airport at Prestwick in Scotland.

Buchanan is a former director of strategy at London City Airport, where he gained planning permission to increase the permitted aircraft movement numbers from 73,000 to 120,000 a year, and managed the development of the airport through investment programmes totalling more than £40 million ($84 million).

Infratil has a market capitalisation of $965 million, and has the $696.5 million purchase of Shell assets this year on its balance sheet as a debt, and is also listing on the ASX, in a bid to get more support from larger institutional investors.

It has a 66 per cent stake in Wellington Airport worth $289 million.

- NZPA