100,000 passengers in three decades, an evolutionary business based on serendipity
In 2022 Global Ballooning Australia celebrates 30 years of operation in the city where hot air ballooning in Australia was born (1858). Balloons are now iconic to the city of Melbourne, known around the world; chiefly as it’s one of the very few major cities in the world over which it is possible to fly them.
Born out of youthful enthusiasm, Global Ballooning Australia was a company name to grow into. With ambitions to take the ballooning medium around the world achieving remarkable things, CEO Kiff Saunders was conscious not to geographically limit the company. He spent his early years training and consulting new hot air ballooning startups in China, New Zealand, and Nepal.
Now fourth-generation aviators, the Saunders family have achieved incredible exploits around the world, from putting up a balloon at the North Pole to flying in the Himalayas to designing, owning and flying Patricia Piccinini’s infamous Skywhale during its global tour. Kiff’s three children, Paterson (26), Edward (24) and Scarlett (21), all hold commercial hot air ballooning licences and are qualified to fly both here and abroad.
Less businessman, more adventurer, in 2010, CEO Kiff Saunders suffered a horrific motorcycle accident that incapacitated him for over a year. His freedom and mobility under threat, Kiff glimpsed life from a very different perspective and was inspired to develop an award-winning Easy Access Basket – the first and only one of its kind in Australia – which would enable those less able to experience flight in a hot air balloon.
The next generation of ballooning in Australia is secure as Kiff, Pato, Ed and Scarlett continue to live Global’s ethos holistically, allowing a flow of opportunities to shape the company’s destiny. This year Ed competed in the international competition circuit in Europe, Kiff participated in the Gordon Bennett Cup, one of the oldest and most prestigious gas ballooning events in the world, Pato continues to lead polar expeditions in the northern and southern hemispheres, and Scarlett holds the Female Australian Altitude Record at 23714ft, which she achieved in 2019 (there are yet to be official records set in the womens’ endurance and distance categories).
Today Global is Victoria’s largest hot air balloon company and an authority in the industry, accepted into the Victorian Tourism Awards Hall of Fame in 2017. Kiff is one of the few top commercial instructors to be made a Civil Aviation Safety Authority delegate and has trained many of Australia’s leading balloon pilots.
Through the pursuit of extraordinary flying adventures to hone skills, overcoming immense personal challenges, bringing some of the best pilots in the world to fly here in Victoria, and their steadfast dedication to training and safety, Global Ballooning Australia continues to provide an exceptional experience to over 11,000 passengers a year in three locations – Melbourne, Yarra Valley and Mansfield.
For one Australian-owned and operated family tourism business who have pushed through the global pandemic and emerged on the other side, the question remains: where will they be in the next 30 years?
Bronni Bowen 