Overview
Strategically located, central in Australia's northwest, Port Hedland International Airport (PHIA) is the only International Airport in the Pilbara and a direct link to the world's largest iron ore export port with geographic proximity to major oil and gas fields from the Exmouth to Browse.
The Airport welcomes more than 500,000 passengers and hundreds of international aircraft movements (charters, medivacs, fuel stops and diversions) each year with established passenger services to Brisbane and Perth.
PHIA is a designated Australian first-point-of-entry with Border Force and biosecurity operations. The Airport is home to domestic and international freight operators, a certified international cargo terminal operator (CTO) and regularly handles the world’s largest aircraft such as the Antonov 124 with oversize, time-critical freight movements for the resources sector.
Operator
The PHIA Group of Companies (PHIA Group) is the lessee and operator of the Port Hedland International Airport. PHIA Group’s underlying investors, managed by Dexus and Foresight Group, are preeminent Australian and International infrastructure investors.
PHIA Group is committed to invest in the Port Hedland community’s airport asset to keep the region ‘open for business’ and ensure the airport maintains its safety and security standards while offering enhanced customer experiences to our community.
Board of Directors
Honourable Cheryl Edwardes – Chair
Mrs Edwardes is a highly credentialed and experienced company director and Chairperson. A solicitor by profession and a former Minister in the Court Government of Western Australia, she has extensive experience and knowledge of WA’s legal and regulatory framework relating to mining projects, environmental, native title, heritage, and land access.
She currently serves as the Non-Executive Chair of Pacific Energy Group Holdings Ltd and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX: WGX). She also works with HHG Legal Group and FTI Consulting.
Ms Edwardes has been awarded an Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2016 for “significant service to the people and Parliament of Western Australia, to the law and the environment, and through executive roles with business, education and community organisations.” She was promoted to Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2025 Australia Day Honours. She was also named in the 100 Women of Influence 2016, inducted into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame 2016 and was a finalist in the Women in Resources Award 2015.
Michael Bessell – Non-executive Director – Executive General Manager, Infrastructure, Dexus
Michael is Executive General Manager of Infrastructure at Dexus. He has more than 30 years of investment management and investment banking experience, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, equity raising and developing infrastructure projects. He has worked in Europe and North America and has led teams undertaking investments in Europe, Australasia and North America.
He is a member of the Dexus Infrastructure Investment Committee and a Director of Powerco NZ and Dexus Investment Services Pty Limited and was previously Executive Chairman of AMP Capital Investors Limited and a Director of Opal Healthcare.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Economics, both from the Australian National University in Australia, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Dr Warren Mundy FRAeS FAICD – Non-executive Director – Independent Consultant, Dexus
Dr Mundy has provided advice to investors, regulators, providers, and users of a wide range of infrastructure services since 2003, particularly in the airports sector. He has also provided advice to a range of government agencies including the Pilbara Ports Authority, the Port of Melbourne, Port Kembla Port Authority, Export Finance Australia and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund.
He is currently the Chair of the Sydney Airport Demand Management Scheme Compliance Committee and serves on the Boards of the Queensland Competition Authority, Icon Water, ActewAGL Joint Venture, and First Nations Advocates Against Family Violence and is a Senior Advisor to Dexus Infrastructure and the Australian Property Institute.
In the past he was a Commissioner at the Australian Productivity Commission and the Australian Competitive Neutrality Complaints Commissioner. Dr Mundy has previously held a number of board positions including being the Deputy Chair of Airservices Australia for five years and as a member of the Steering Committee for the Joint Study on Aviation Capacity for Sydney that led to the Australian Government proceeding to develop a new airport at Badgerys Creek.
In 2001-02, as a senior executive at Melbourne Airport, Dr Mundy led the airport industry advocacy that resulted in the removal of price controls and the implementation of Australia’s light-handed airport regulatory system. Again, as the Chief Economist of the Australian Airports Association from February 2017 to May 2019, he led the Australian airports industry’s advocacy during the most recent Productivity Commission review of the economic regulation of airports. He is generally recognised as Australia’s leading aviation infrastructure pricing and regulation practitioner.
In addition to holding executive roles relating to pricing and regulation at Melbourne Airport and with Infratil Airports Europe, he has provided high level strategic pricing and regulatory advice to a range of airports including Canberra, Perth, Launceston, Wellington, Auckland, Cairns, Newcastle, Mackay, Alice Springs and Darwin.
Dr Mundy holds a first-class honours degree in statistics from the University of New South Wales and has masters and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of Cambridge where he attended Kings College as a Commonwealth Scholar. His doctoral thesis was on the role of Australian State Governments in economic development. In addition he has post-graduate qualifications in corporate finance and another in corporate governance and a Master of Environmental Law from the Australian National University. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Royal Aeronautical Society.
John Clarke – Non-executive Director - Founding Director, Infrastructure Capital Group now Foresight Group
John has over 40 years’ experience across both the financial and investment markets, and has a strong track record of successfully acquiring and managing infrastructure investments.
John formed ICG as a joint venture with ANZ in November 2000 (then called ANZ Infrastructure Services (ANZIS), before John and Mike Fitzpatrick acquired ANZ’s shareholding in August 2009. Prior to that John was Managing Director of Morrison & Co (Australia) Pty Limited when it managed Infratil Australia Limited.
John stepped down as ICG’s Managing Director in October 2014, but remained on the Board as an executive director until ICG was sold to Foresight Group Plc in September 2022. John remains as a Director of PHIA on behalf of Foresight.
Phil Baker – Non-executive Director – Independent Consultant, Infrastructure Capital Group now Foresight Group
Phil is a consultant to Foresight Group to optimise existing investments as well as securing new investments. He sits on the boards of two of the investment manager’s portfolio companies, Flinders Ports and Port Hedland International Airport.
Prior to his executive retirement in 2011, Phil worked as Managing Director of Adelaide Airport Limited and Parafield Airports Limited for 13 years. During this time, Phil was also the Managing Director of Gold Coast Airport from 1998 to 1999. Prior, Phil was the Managing Director Ringway Handling Services Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Manchester Airport plc in the United Kingdom.
He has over 45 years of experience in the aviation industry, across airline operations and handling agents. Phil began his career with British Caledonian Airways Ltd, where he spent 20 years working in posts across France, the Middle East and West/Central Africa.
Team
PHIA team is working hard to deliver a revitalised airport that makes the Port Hedland community proud and has the ongoing capacity to service the burgeoning mining interests, oil and gas industry and diverse opportunities in the region.
