https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/2024/06/16/despite-the-concentration-risk-irelands-corporation-tax-windfall-could-grow-to-30bn/
Despite this government having more money than they know how to spend, they still won't spend any on a runway in Waterford.
Some people here do not understand how the airlines they're quoting on their interest in Waterford even work…
Aer Lingus is a hub and spoke airline, Emerald airlines act as their feeder, they are NOT going to base an aircraft or route in Waterford for that reason alone.
Logan Air are a UK based carrier, who only serve to benefit their operation in Scotland, Waterford is not going to help them there, they'd be looking at larger destinations.
Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizz air are the only airlines in this area of the world who operate a point to point network instead who'd remotely be interested.
Easyjet and Wizz won't come here as Ryanair will then out compete them.
Ryanair are the only airline who are feasible, to keep other airlines out of Ireland, this is their goal.
Not an official metro area city.
Kilkenny? !!
Derry
Other 4 regional cities? 1. Cork, 2. Limerick, 3. Galway, 4. ?
Ryan is the line minister and it is up to him to bring the memo to cabinet to get the airport sanctioned. They may force him to do so now after the green drubbing in elections. The GP locally are in absolute shock I believe, with years of effort down the tubes.
Fine Gael, ah it rhymes with F off as far as Waterford is concerned. How people in this city vote for that party is beyond any rational understanding. The SETU situation is unbelievable in the sense of a modern European democracy. The failure to invest in WIT since 2011 is a national scandal. Unfortunately, Mary Butler ranks among the worst TDs this area has ever, ever had. Politically appalling.
FG has never done anything positive for Waterford I’m under no illusions there. Only hope we have of getting this over the line is if Butler steps up and pushes it within FF. FG hate Waterford you only have to look at SETU,UHW,boundary ext, the list is endless from FG and it’s failures in Waterford.
One man isn't calling the shots though, it suits government to lay the blame on the greens here.
All Leos positive talk of how beneficial the airport would be and how they government want to see if happen, at any stage he could have said do it, we'll fund it.
People then fall for it, greens get annihilated and FG/FF sit back smiling.
Ryan is weak now after the local elections. You can be sure there is also questions within the greens about the future of their leader. Butler now needs to use this weakness to call a stop to Ryan’s personal issue with the airport. One man should not call the shots like this! FF are also in government. FG enough said when it comes to Waterford.
Unfortunately there will be no decision between now and elections,if they're talking about government running it's full term till next March it could be honestly this time 12 months before an answer could be provided over its future.its how Waterford has been dealt with the last 20 years.kick the can down the road further while the other 4 regional cities are thriving.its infuriating
Not happening, now or ever. Dunno what shenanigans the lads that purchased the airport have in mind but it isn't flights to Palma or Paris. 😂
Cynthia Ni Mhurchu has been elected so I would suggest that people begin e-mailing her to remind her of her commitment to Waterford Airport.
It's just all gone so quiet it's been 6 months as posted on here already, surely a decision has to be made soon
On the nail.
I still suspect we'll see a positive announcement in the run up to a GE, then once the election passes it will be put on the back burner, really really really hope I am wrong and it just gets the green light and goes ahead
Week 26. The half year anniversary.
Proposal sat for half a year on Minister's desk.
State apparatus maliciously misdirected into stalling project instead of finding a solution for the only region in the country without access to mass aviation.
Vacant looks abound regarding solutions from those tasked with finding answers. Instead: shills, yes-men and lackeys fully sharpened on social media; their job to engage turbo-charged finger-pointing mode away from Government inaction.
I bet they'll announce the airport just before the next general election.
Jody Power on WLR laid his council election defeat squarely on Eamon Ryan. Didn’t pull any punches, saying it was all he heard on the doorsteps.
Mark Casey tried to tone it down but he is dreaming if he thinks the public will believe his line blaming the developers more than the minister.
The clock is ticking big time now. FG/FF also have to consider that when their convenient current GP shield is blown away, they will be in the immediate firing line. Time to deliver or get off the pot.
Waterford is closer to Europe also so you're saving a bit of airplane fuel.
The population of the south east is about 500,000 so in theory should be enough to sustain a small airport.
Ireland's population is growing rapidly according to article today so maybe we do need a new airport.
We'll be 5.5m in a couple of years. 6m in the early 2030s.
This paradigm is severely outdated. A more economic model is developing stronger regional airports. Dublin airport is only as big as it is because the economic model we have treats the country as a single hinterland of Dublin. Dublin with a 15 or twenty million a year cap and a few regional airports with a million or two million a year would be much more sustainable and take millions of car journeys a year out of an over heated Dublin.
Again I don't have much time for Eamon Ryan but there is more than the greens stopping any extension. FG have been in power for 13 years at this stage, the greens can't be the only scapegoat.
Greens not doing too well is only good news for the airport. Ryan will be weakened by this result so now it’s time Butler and FF get this over the line. Greens have no right to stop this project.
Cllr & Mayor Jody Power talking to WLR earlier about the significance of the airport on the doorsteps across the region….
https://www.wlrfm.com/news/eamon-ryan-poisoned-air-for-green-vote-in-waterford-says-green-party-councillor-363423
I wouldn't be kicking and screaming, I would be annoyed as even with 9 airports I do feel Waterford would work. Worst case I would see it getting back to its 07,08,09 passenger figures of over 100k.
The airport is already a functional airport, SAE base, private flights, occasional cargo flights, aero club and flight school.
The money is small, €7 million, even say a subvention of €400k a year, it's tiny money so the benefit it could bring to Waterford and surrounding counties.
Not supporting Waterford and saving €7 million and 400k a year, that money would just be blown elsewhere. To date government policy has denied Waterford of a stand alone University (despite numerous independent reports supporting a stand alone Uni), they have held UHW back at every chance (the only model 4 hospital that falls under another hospital), why not take a chance with the airport and see what happens.
Let's say government spend €12 million from on the infrastructure and support for a few years and it fails, sell the land for a couple of million, recoup some losses and move on.
Well Sligo is closed to commercial traffic and there are no plans to change that that I'm aware of. Presumably they don't go into the other airports because all viable routes that could be served by a regional airline have already been taken by others.
For example Ryanair and Aer Lingus between them serve nine UK routes from Knock. That appears to be the capacity at Knock for UK routes so there's no viable scope for Loganair to go in there. Or Emerald for that matter. Nine UK routes is loads for a regional airport. The difference at Waterford of course is that there are currently zero UK routes and yet there is still evidently no viable scope for Loganair or Emerald to go in there i.e. there appears to be no worthwhile market at all at that airport since the last commercial service ended many years ago.
In an ideal world I'd agree with your second point that the government ought to just come out and say there's no viable future for Waterford without massive upfront and ongoing subvention from the government and that that's not considered an appropriate use of public funding when there are nine operational airports with commercial passenger services on the island already.
But let's be honest, would the average Waterford Airport supporting poster on here go "ah that's fair enough so then, that makes sense" ? Of course they wouldn't, they'd be kicking and screaming as usual. So that's why it's dragging on, bad news is hard to break to people.
Ryanair used to fly London Waterford Galway and back and it was so convenient.
Also the topic of Waterford airport has been discussed over and over on this thread, we'll have those in favour and those against and to be honest that is neither here nor there.
The issue is, for the past 10 years, the current government have stated how much of a benefit Waterford airport would be to the South East and the benefits that it would bring.
They now have a business proposal sitting on their desk so either back the airport or cut the shite talk and just come out and say "we don't support another airport and we won't fundd Waterford"
Either back up your talk with funding or call it as it is and spot spouting shite.
Logan Air don't also see, Cork, Shannon, Kerry, Knock, Sligo, Donegal or Dublin as options, why not? It's obviously easier for them to operate within the UK, hence why they are operating from Derry.
Emerald also do not see Kerry, Shannon, knock, Sligo as options why not? This are still a relatively new airline and have the security of aer Lingus regional and that is where they will focus their attention.
I do agree the airport should be doing all they can to attract emerald airlines but that comes with its own problems, you get a drop in service even daily. The overhead of one flight a day is huge on the airport, fire category, security etc...... for relatively small passenger numbers. You also have the issue if a drop in service ahad a technical issue you are transporting passengers to cork it Dublin, transferring engineers to Waterford to fix the issue, all too costly for a regional airline
They have been down the road of regional Airlines and have been burnt in the past, hence why they are putting their eggs in a runway extension.
With the exception of Donegal no other regional airport is operating commerical flights on the island of Ireland with a 1400meter runway.
That Loganair would have to fill in a few forms to fly from Waterford is definitely the worst excuse I've heard yet! They've flown from Ireland plenty in the past with no issues. They currently fly from LDY so are no stranger to the island. And contrary to your view on the viability of regional airlines they are profitable and growing.
That they don't appear to think it's viable for them to fly a route or two from Waterford tells it's own story. Same with Emerald/Aer Lingus, if they thought there was anything viable for them in Waterford, they'd be in there. They don't because they know the airport is a dead duck.
