Sydney Airport Taps GE Executive as New CEO

Sydney Airport Ltd., which runs Australia's busiest airport, said Tuesday that the head of General Electric Co.'s unit in Australia would take over as chief executive in the coming months.

The appointment of Geoff Culbert comes after current Sydney Airport Chief Executive Kerrie Mather said she would step down, prompting the airport to launch a global search for her replacement.

Mr. Culbert, who has been president and chief executive of GE Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea since 2014, will begin his new role at the airport before the end of January. He will be paid an annual salary of 1.5 million Australian dollars (US$1.2 million), including superannuation.

Sydney Airport has benefited from a boom in tourism to Australia in recent years, especially from China. The company recently turned down an opportunity from the government to build a second airport in western Sydney, which will now be a competitor, but the new facility isn't expected to open for about a decade.

Mr. Culbert is "excited about the contribution the airport makes to the broader economy," he said in a statement. "If we continue to capture the increasing demand for travel, particularly from developing markets, the flow on benefits for the NSW and Australian economy will be huge."

-Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 25, 2017 19:02 ET (23:02 GMT)