Queensland's Sunshine Coast Council has hired RBC Capital Markets to advise it on funding for a new $350 million runway that could allow for direct flights to Asia with aircraft such as Boeing 787s and Airbus A330s by 2020.

A report is due this month. Potential outcomes could include selling or leasing some or all of the airport.

Sunshine Coast Airport served 900,000 passengers in the year ended June 30, with growth of 11.4 per cent, outpacing all of the nation's top 20 airports except Alice Springs.

"We have been in both the national and international markets talking with prospective investors – initially generating awareness, and increasingly, competitive tension," Sunshine Coast mayor Mark Jamieson said.

"We see this as a really worthwhile asset and one there will be significant appetite for."

The vast majority of Australian airports that have been privatised are owned by the Commonwealth, which granted long-term leases to private entities between 1997 and 2003.

Included in this group are those in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin, but also regional airports such as Tennant Creek, Mount Isa and Launceston. The Queensland government sold the Cairns and Mackay airports in 2008.

Australian Airports Association chief executive Caroline Wilkie said it was logical for regional councils to also consider divesting airport stakes.

"For bigger regional ones, it makes sense as they have the passenger volume. There are some smaller regional airports that could consider lease arrangements or partnership arrangements with larger airports," she said.

Newcastle Airport last year finalised a change in its corporate structure to facilitate the future introduction of new shareholders.

The structure allows for the two owners, Newcastle City and Port Stephens councils, to sell up to a combined 49 per cent in one of the nation's larger regional airports, although no deal has been done yet. The airport served 1.2 million passengers last year.

Ballina Shire Council, near Byron Bay in northern NSW, is looking at offering a 40-year lease of up to 49 per cent of the fast-growing airport to potential buyers.

Ballina mayor David Wright said the airport, which is serviced by Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Regional Express, was worth about $50 million. It serves about 400,000 passengers a year.

"Because it has a regular business and a good income, it makes it very ­viable for a super fund to come in," he said. "It is most likely safer than anything else they could invest with."

Cr Wright said a deal could be done by the first half of next year.

Lismore City Council, which controls a much smaller airport near Ballina, is considering a full sale or lease after receiving an unsolicited offer. It has issued a formal call for expressions of interest, with submissions due by September 30. The offers will be assessed in October before a report to the council on November 11.

The mayor of Lismore, Jenny Dowell, cautioned a deal was not guaranteed to occur. "It is very much a toe in the water at the moment," she said.

But Cr Dowell said any proceeds would be useful in filling gaps in the general council budget for services such as road maintenance.

Industry sources said sizeable council-owned airports in the West Australian mining towns of Kalgoorlie, Port Hedland and Karratha were also candidates for outside investment.

Airport operator Queensland Airports is among those on the hunt for acquisitions. QAL holds the leases over the Gold Coast, Townsville and Mount Isa airports which were privatised by the Commonwealth. But in 2012 it also ­purchased a 99-year lease over the tiny Longreach airport in western Queensland for $2.5 million.

QAL managing director Dennis Chant said his company would not rule out further deals, including east coast locations outside Queensland. He said the group's model was to have a centralised corporate team that had sophisticated forecasting and research capability which supported location-specific airport management.

Mr Chant said operating airports was a core business for QAL, unlike for a local council struggling to run an airport along with the local roads, garbage collection and water treatment plants. "Our structure is very well geared to, if you like, just plugging in additional regional airports," he said.

"If the right opportunity came along and it made sense to us, I'm sure our shareholders would be interested in having a look at it."­

Richard Hoskins, executive director of Hastings Funds Management, which is a large shareholder in QAL, said the regional airport investments had proven very successful to date. "They have been some of the best investments we have been involved with as a firm," he said.

Mr Hoskins said the preference would be to have a majority stake in an airport, based on experience overseas, although he would not rule out a minority stake.

"We have certainly had experiences where investing alongside a local government has been challenging," Mr Hoskins said. "It doesn't have to be a constraint but there certainly has been experience in certain jurisdictions where it has been.

"When we are looking at investments, we tend to like to be able to control the execution of the business plan."­