The Comers have made a lot of bad investments as well as good ones. Can only assume that either this is one of the bad ones or else maybe just an act of philanthropy on their part. They certainly won't be seeing any form of profit on any money they invest, if they can even recoup anything at all.
But, at the same time, €20m is nothing to them. If they're mad enough to throw that much at the airport and get the runway extension done, it will certainly be possible to get some skeleton passenger services back running again. With the small catchment the airport has there's potentially scope for some London flights, maybe a couple of regional UK services and a sun route or two if someone is willing to fund them without expecting any return. Something like a smaller version of Kerry without the inbound tourism demand.
It's a shame the airport isn't located about half an hour north of the city up the M9. Then it would have a chance of serving a useful catchment and even taking some overflow from Dublin. But it's actual location down near the coast is hopeless in terms of catchment, so it limits any prospect of greater development of the facility.
The biggest saving is time. With the bus and ferry, it usually meant almost a day wasted in just travelling to London and back. With Dublin, it was a few hours on a journey to Dublin and then the flight and, unless it used London City Airport, another train into London. Waterford airport cut hours off those trips. It might not matter for tourists but less time travelling makes a lot of sense for businesses and the people who have to do it. The key advantage that Waterford airport has over Cork or Dublin for people in the SE is time saved.
Regards...jmcc
It is a complicated situation and the people doing this work will be aware of it. I think that Luton and Stansted were the main London airports when there were flights to the UK from Waterford. Both were well served by rail and bus connections to London. The main selling point about the Waterford airport versus Dublin is ease of use and accessibility. The longer runway provides more options and would facilitate more traffic.
You can be sure they will. €50 or €100 extra for a flight you can get on where you potentially spend less on diesel to get to the airport, cheaper car parking and less time queueing in the airport itself. €100 more to avoid the hassle of Dublin airport is an absolute no brainer.
If you think Dublin Airport is a disaster zone, flying out of Waterford won't help - basically every other airport of scale in Europe is in a far worse state than Dublin, and that's where you'll be flying to!
Heathrow is having to limit its total passengers per day to below what Dublin is handling fine every weekend (100k) for instance. And it's a much larger airport. Bag transfers are falling apart everywhere. All due to too many layoffs during COVID, EU aviation background check regs and, most importantly, poor wages.
Unless flights to, say, Oxford or Brighton in lieu of London are arranged you're going to hit a big airport at one end. And those flights could be done right now on the existing runway.
Currently on Google maps a trip by car from the clock tower to cork airport is 1hr 55mins.
Clock tower to Dublin red long term carpark is 1hr 46 mins, factor in waiting on the shuttle etc and that would put you also over two hours.
Killarney is only 1hr and 16minutes to cork airport and 1hr and 58 minutes to Shannon airport and Farranfore (Kerry Airport) Airport is still successful, so why can Waterford not be successful?
Some interesting travel times below....
Kilkenny to Waterford airport 47minutes
Wexford to Waterford airport 59 minutes
Enniscorthy to Waterford airport 55 minutes
Goery to Waterford airport 1hr 19 minutes (1hr to 24 minutes to Dublin red long term)
Rosslare 1hr 10 minutes (freight)
Clonmel to Waterford Airport 52 minutes
Waterford City to Waterford airport 14 minutes
Tramore to Waterford airport 13 minutes
Dungarvan to Waterford airport 44 minutes
And all in-between the areas listed above most likely puts 600k population with an hour of Waterford Airport
The same la-la land thinking that says Cork is one hour from Waterford? Do you work in the HSE's cardiac care department by any chance?
Do you need to have a chat with someone..
No one expects free parking, but no one is going to be flying to a destination from Waterford that's fifty or a hundred euro dearer than Cork or Dublin..Nothing "la la thinking" about that..those are the facts.. Less of the smart comments
There is a lot of 'la-la land' thinking in here.....
...... cheap fares
..... cheap fuel
..... multiple of flights
..... UK and Europe flights
.... discussions with Ryanair and Aer Lingus Regional on-going.
What next is coming ???..... free car parking?? In house Burgerking?? Louis Vuitton retail outlet?
Airline prices in Waterford would have to be a lot cheaper than compared to before for them to have any chance of success tbh.. Here's hoping !!
Don't see much difference here really...... Cork on one side (1 hr+++) and Dublin the other (2 hr++).
Galway couldn't compete with Shannon when the M18 opened and Knock also took a lot of its passengers! Great news for Waterford! This can be be a turning point for the region.
it certainly is fantastic news for Waterford if it can get across the line..
Thats true and don't get me wrong I am all for this, I guess I'm just a little skeptical due to the number of false dawn's in the past.
Galway itself has two good regional airports an hour either side with Knock and SNN. Dublin just over two. Was never very viable for those reasons
Would be brilliant to have an alternative to Dublin. Living in Kilkenny cork and Shannon are just too far away in my opinion. A semi decent airport down the M9 would be a huge draw. Let’s see now if cork don’t hobble it though? I go to England a but with work and would save a lot of hassle
Here is the WLR report based on the Independent article. Very significant news with a planned start in investments immediately, including runway extension.
There are even talks with Aer Lingus Regional as well as Ryanair. I think most people thought the pandemic would result in a long-term collapse in air traffic and viability of regional airports. The 'sh*t show' at Dublin airport over the summer means that there is now a big opportunity for a small convenient hassle free airport which Waterford can now become.
I remember in the 80's the location was seen as terrible. It could take hours from Carlow for example, to get to it. The motorway to Dublin, the outer ring road and the city bypass means that this is no longer a problem. I'm sure many in the region would be willing to pay a little bit more for flights from Waterford for the convenience rather than having to put up with the Dublin experience.
The freight and aircraft maintenance element is also important to viability. As others have said, there is a risk in the investment but the future 'seems' bright. There will be push back from the usual quarters though.
...we better get cracking with building accommodation, and improving other critical infrastructure, including the local health system so......
...this is an interesting development though
If this happens it would be huge for Waterford. With Waterford Port providing container services globally now through Rotterdam. Now the airport expansion. It makes Waterford one of only three places in the country that can provide these to companies looking to invest. On top of the population growth shown in the census, you are seriously looking at Waterford overtaking Galway and regaining fourth place in Irish city terms.
Perhaps because it is two hours away from the disaster zone that is Dublin Airport? Most investments are gambles and have an element of risk involved. The ones that pay off often do so because they make something easier for people. This would make it easier for people in the SE to get flights without having to go to Dublin or Cork The more overloaded Dublin and Cork airports become, the greater the opportunity for a regional airport like Waterford.
... Business-wise, the deal has a lot of positive angles.
Naw- can’t see it myself.
As Branson once said when he was asked how did he become a millionaire in aviation- he replied “you start out as a Billionaire “!!
Mmm… why would two plasterers who literally made billions see value in acquiring an Airport serving the South East that is two hours away from the disaster zone that is Dublin Airport? Maybe they think it can’t go wrong? Maybe they are going to buy the North Wharf and want an international connection.
Anyway, seeing as they are billionaires and spectacularly clever at investing in property we probably don’t need to worry about them.
Rest assured though, the many ministers for Cork will be getting their ears roasted this morning. Possibly the only recourse at this stage will be to get Eamon Ryan in hard and early. You know the angle, green house gases will be lower if people from the SE continue to drive a hundred miles to Dublin. Maybe there’s a snail or something. All is not lost, just the excuses running out of road.
It is a long term investment in an airport that is having its runway extended. It already has a functional airport so much of the development work has already been completed.
Ryanair wouldn't be Ryanair if it didn't drive hard bargains.
The fuel issue means that aircraft could fly passengers from the UK or Europe to Waterford rather than Cork. Over a lot of flights, the savings on fuel for airlines would be considerable.
Cargo would also be a way to generate revenue as would maintenance and training. The longer runway would help with that too.
Business-wise, the deal has a lot of positive angles.
Ye I get that, but where is the return on investing 20 million?
Lile Ryanair would look for either free or very low landing fee's.
Fuel, airlines will get that wherever is cheaper, so that maybe in other destinations that they fly to from Waterford.
Rental of shop/cafe space, and car parking would be income but would be put back into running and maintaining the airport.
If they go down the cargo route than handling of cargo and aircraft parking could generate nice income.
Location. Dublin and Cork would get most of the passengers from the SE. Waterford as a regional airport for the SE would take a lot of those potential passengers away from Dublin and Cork. Perhaps in terms of fuel, Waterford airport will be slightly cheaper for airlines than Cork.
The runway extension/expansion may have convinced them to invest. I think that some of the coverage mentioned that it would now have a longer runway than Cork. It also has the advantage of being closer to the UK and the continent than Cork. At least it is some good news.
So what is their angle? Seems odd that two Galway brothers would be interested when Galway airport is sitting pretty much idol.
There is very little profit in regional airports so it is hard to see them make a return on their investment, unless it is spin off businesses from the airport expansion.
The Comers are not known for acting quickly. This apartment building has been unfinished for 11 years.
Paywalled but confirms the above.
Massive breaking news. The billionaire Comer brothers are becoming majority shareholders for €20m. I can’t post links in the new site, but there are plans to build a hotel and solar farm as well as the extension.
These guys are serious players. The govt will struggle to put the kibosh on this one. We are going to have a proper regional airport lads. It’s happening!
