VIP terminals of Australia and Oceania

The catalogue holds 14 objects in the region: business aviation terminals, FBOs and VIP lounges in 14 cities. Below are the ones that set the level of service in the region, and a short map of the rest.

Jet Aviation Brisbane (Brisbane Jet Base)

Brisbane, Australia · Brisbane Airport (BNE) · standalone complex

The FBO has worked in Brisbane since 2006 and occupies its own site at 5–7 Boronia Road in the general aviation sector. The complex includes a passenger terminal with VIP lounges, a meeting room and crew rest rooms with showers, plus a hangar and an apron for business jet parking. Customs, immigration and quarantine clearance takes place on site, and coordination of fuelling, catering and ground transport is available. IS-BAH Stage 2 certification, a member of the Air Elite network, open round the clock.

ExecuJet Wellington FBO

Wellington, New Zealand · Wellington International Airport (WLG) · standalone complex

Photo: Public domain

A dedicated business aviation terminal in the New Zealand capital: a purpose-built building with its own hangar on the western apron of Wellington airport, ten minutes from the city centre. The VIP lounge offers a view of the runway, refreshments and internet; there is a meeting room for 6–8, full bathrooms and separate crew facilities. Customs, immigration and biosecurity clearance for international flights is arranged on site. A guarded apron under video surveillance and three tugs allow Gulfstream G650 and Global Express class aircraft to be accepted. The site is run by the local Capital Jet Services in strategic partnership with the ExecuJet network.

GCH Jet Centre

Christchurch, New Zealand · Christchurch International Airport (CHC) · standalone complex

Photo: New Zealand Defence Force from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

A corporate jet centre on the campus of GCH Aviation's headquarters at Christchurch airport — Canterbury's first full-service FBO and a convenient business aviation gateway to the South Island. Service is round the clock: a lounge for business jet passengers with refreshments, arrangement of customs and biosecurity (MPI) clearance, towing, baggage handling, cabin cleaning, fuelling and hangar storage. The group's own charter Challenger 604, Citation CJ2+ and Falcon 2000LX are based here, and transfers from business jet to helicopter for lodges and resorts are established. GCH Aviation also runs helicopter and seaplane programmes in New Zealand and Fiji.

Jet Aviation Cairns FBO

Cairns, Australia · Cairns Airport (CNS) · standalone complex

Photo: Jetstar Airways from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Jet Aviation's complex in the aviation quarter of Cairns airport — the business aviation gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and the resorts of northern Queensland, part of the network since 2018. The executive terminal has a VIP lounge, a meeting room, a crew rest room and Wi-Fi; separate areas with refreshments are provided for passengers and crews. On site are apron parking and a hangar, line maintenance and an avionics workshop. Customs, immigration and quarantine clearance takes place on site. The site is certified to IS-BAH Stage 2 and belongs to the Air Elite network.

Melbourne Essendon business aviation base (ExecuJet Melbourne FBO)

Melbourne, Australia · Essendon Fields Airport (MEB) · standalone complex

Photo: Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Melbourne's principal business aviation airport, 10 km from the city centre: until 1970 it served as Melbourne's main airport, and today it takes business jets, charters and emergency services aviation. The ExecuJet FBO occupies its own complex in hangar 17 on Bradfield Court: VIP lounges, meeting rooms, a crew area, 2 500 m² of hangar, 1 000 m² of workshops and offices, and customs and border clearance on site. Other business aviation operators work alongside — Jetcity, Southern Cross Jets — along with a Textron Aviation maintenance centre. IS-BAH Stage 3 certification, hours 06:00–23:00, round the clock on request.

Maxem Jet Centre

Perth, Australia · Perth Airport (PER) · standalone complex

Photo: Orderinchaos, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

A private aviation centre at 151 Fauntleroy Avenue, away from the passenger terminals of Perth airport. The complex combines its own passenger terminal and a hangar for aircraft storage, and works round the clock. Passengers have transfer directly to the aircraft steps, showers, a kitchen and guarded parking; a Mototok electric tug and electric baggage carts are used on the apron. Maxem Aviation also operates charter flights and manages clients' aircraft.

ExecuJet Sydney FBO

Sydney, Australia · Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD) · standalone complex

Photo: Public domain

The only FBO at Sydney international airport, housed on its own site by Ross Smith Avenue (Hangar 394). The complex combines a passenger terminal with a VIP lounge and meeting rooms, a private apron, a hangar holding the Global 7500, and the technical base of ExecuJet MRO Services — 1 500 m² of hangar plus 1 000 m² of workshops and offices. Customs and border clearance takes place on site, and fuelling is available, including sustainable aviation fuel. Certified to IS-BAH Stage 3; ExecuJet's headquarters for the Australasia region is also located here. Hours 06:00–22:00, round the clock by arrangement.

National Jet Express FBO Adelaide

Adelaide, Australia · Adelaide Airport (ADL) · standalone building

Photo: Michael Coghlan from Adelaide, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The FBO of the airline National Jet Express on James Schofield Drive at Adelaide airport, with direct access to the apron. Inside are a passenger lounge designed for privacy, a reception area and a meeting room for business meetings. It works round the clock, serving business jets, VIP clients and official delegations; expedited immigration clearance, meeting at the aircraft steps, transfers and catering are arranged on site. The operator grew out of the Australian division of Cobham Aviation Services and has belonged to the Rex group since September 2022.

Other objects in the region

The whole series

The fourteen sites of Australia and Oceania are part of a wider catalogue of business aviation terminals that runs to 308 objects. To compare the region with the rest, look at how the formats of accommodation are distributed and work out which operator networks hold the market, go to the summary article VIP terminals of business aviation worldwide.

How to use this

The terminal at the destination is checked together with the route, before the flight is booked: without one the aircraft is met in the common flow and the time advantage of a private flight melts away. For Australia and New Zealand quarantine and biosecurity come on top of that — in Brisbane, Wellington and Christchurch the clearance is handled on the site itself. Opening hours are confirmed with the operator: Melbourne Essendon and Sydney take arrivals until the evening, and round the clock by arrangement.

The helicopter leg used in Christchurch to reach the lodges and resorts is familiar to me from my own machines: in 2024 our company had ten aircraft under management — five aeroplanes and five helicopters, among them the Mi-8AMT and the Eurocopter EC130 T2. The EC130 takes six passengers and a Mi-8 in a VIP layout around eight, so the size of the party decides whether one machine covers the transfer. Maintenance of the fleet we handed to the airline Barguzin with its FAP-285 certificate: holding our own certificate for a couple of machines makes no sense. For the same reason I look at the technical side of a site as closely as at the VIP lounge — in Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns the hangar and the workshops stand on the FBO's own ground.

Our client segment is VIP passengers; we work worldwide and stay clear of sanctioned deals. We answer a charter request within a business day, and round-the-clock support is something I do not promise — with the time difference to this region that is worth allowing for when a flight is planned for the next twenty-four hours.

Alexander Filimonov — business aviation: sourcing, acquisition and entry into service of aircraft.