28/06/2025
Posted by request from Sean and Matt,
Dear All,
Matt and I would like to sincerely thank you for attending and listening to our presentation at Coldstream on Friday night. Your input was invaluable, allowing us to understand the needs of pilots and owners. We appreciate the presentation was light on detail, but we do not see our role as to dictate how to proceed.
In our conversations, we have identified two significant items that need to be addressed
hangar allocation
what is the cost of a share/fraction
Hangar allocation
For those primarily concerned about hangar leases/allocations and aircraft parking, please note that airport ownership and aircraft parking/hangarage are entirely separate issues.
Whether it’s the current owner, or a future owner (such as us as a group of pilots), hangar and site allocations and general aerodrome running will be determined over time. The way to ensure a voice in the discussion is as an owner.
Share cost
At this stage, it is impossible to nominate a share size. We discussed hypotheticals on Friday, but any share size will be determined within the discussions of the structure.
It is important to reiterate, this is a land bank project. Expect no return on your investment. You are free to trade your holdings with anyone, as you would with a car, but no interest or return is anticipated for many years, if at all.
Our task, now, is to ascertain how many of us wish to group together and buy the airport, and at what price.
Looking forward, our tasks are to purchase the airport, improve infrastructure and oversee its responsible management for the years ahead. At the same time Matt and I want to ensure the airport stays in the hands of aviation enthusiasts, with the sole focus on operating for the benefit of aviation, not corporate profit.
Somebody has to own the airport, whether that be the current owner or someone new - and the owners decisions will determine the future of Coldstream and ultimately this will impact on GA in Melbourne.
Matt and I think that new owner might as well be ‘us’ – the collection of pilots, businesses and users of the aerodrome who are incentivised to keep and grow it.
We believe our first step is to establish just how financially ‘strong’ we are as a group.
To that end, if you wish to proceed, please contact me confidentially with your expression of interest at . Please include in your email:
your name
the amount you would be willing to invest into owning the airport
whether your contribution is via an SMSF or not.
Please note, any expression of interest is not a guarantee to commit - rather an opportunity to have a seat at the table and plan the structure. We would rather hear from you and negotiate your position than not hear from you and have you miss out.
We understand that deliberations over structure are needed and respect that some may withdraw if the final structure is unacceptable to them. This is ok and we will be clear when we communicate what funds are required and when they will need to be committed unconditionally.
The final structure will be designed to suit the number of willing investors, anticipating that multiple meetings may be required to refine our structure and proposal into something worth your commitment. This is not something we will dictate.
We will build into our structure the process to transfer or sell your holding.
For best practice, we will be using a solicitor’s trust account for all moneys deposited until settlement and we will have no personal access to funds without express written permission.
I sincerely hope we can get Coldstream owned and run by us - the pilots and users - so that every decision is to our mutual and community benefit.
We appreciate that this project requires trust, patience, and a long-term view. Hangar development and allocation may take 5–10 years as we gradually remove unsafe structures and plan responsible rehousing. We will work to ensure fair processes for allocation over time, noting that we cant please everyone all the time.
But the first step is securing the land for aviation. Promising anything beyond that is not realistic.
What we can promise, is that we will design and present a legal structure that puts the control of the airport in YOUR hands.
Those who purchase the airport, will run the airport.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to be involved in the future of Coldstream Airport - we look forward to hearing from you and recognise that trust and faith we all will need to place in each other to succeed.
Kind regards
Sean & Matt
