On Wed 12th March '25 our members heard from Jonathan Willsher - Commercial Manager at the Ballarat Airport.

After his training Jonathon progressed to working as an international pilot with Cathay Pacific based in Melbourne. Following a period working as a Solicitor, specialising in aviation matters, he accepted his current role with the City of Ballarat where he works to develop and execute a strategy for the growth and future success of Ballarat’s airport.

Jonathon discussed the strategic planning process that has been completed to identify opportunities for what is an underutilized community asset. He described Ballarat as being in a "transport shadow" due to our lack of direct air passenger connectivity out of our airport which is a small asset for a community the size of Ballarat.

Future opportunities include expansion of emergency services capacity, an aircraft maintenance hub with the ability to land up to regional jet sized aircraft, expansion of pilot training facilities, passenger links to capital cities and freight expansion with easy connection to road & rail infrastructure (a transport node).

With the extended runway opening soon and a terminal upgrade planned in 2026 (pending funding) the vision for the Ballarat airport is a facility servicing all of Western Victoria – not only Ballarat.

Thankyou Jonathon for a very interesting presentation.