Long-Term Lease of Port Hedland International Airport

⁠⁠⁠Port Hedland International Airport is the gateway to Western Australia's North West and the strongly growing Pilbara region.

In the year ending June 2014, 512,000 passengers arrived and departed from the Airport, following increases of 75% and 21% over the last 5 and 10 years respectively. The Airport has nearly 70 flights a week, including daily flights to Perth and direct weekly flights to Brisbane, Melbourne and Bali. The Town has planned for substantial investment over the next five years to create a modern and well-serviced airport that will provide a welcoming gateway to the North West.

The Town's redevelopment plans include redevelopment of the terminal and surrounding precinct, infrastructure upgrades, new subdivisions and new business opportunities. The new terminal precinct will have a future capacity for more than 700,000 passengers per year. Plans are also in place to expand the Airport's regional, national and international flights with more airlines, more routes and more services.

Given these future plans, the Town is considering the granting of a long-term lease (Lease) over the Airport to a private sector party (Lessee) so as to bring the appropriate funding capacity to the Airport and to transfer risk to the private sector. The Airport will continue to be owned by the Town.

The Town has appointed The Airport Group as the advisor who is retained to guide the Town through the Transaction.