Waterford Airport.

Exactly.. In order to get an 18:40 flight to Izmir we left dooleys on board the 13:00 bus to get to the airport on time for check-in..that's just over 5 hours before the flight and lots in the queue ahead of us when we arrived in the airport

As has already been explained to you multiple times, Kerry does not have direct motorway access to Dublin in under two hours. It does benefit from a significant amount of private air traffic, but ultimately if it was possible to get from Kerry to Dublin Airport in under two hours on a motorway, there wouldn't be an international airport in the county. The same is true of Mayo and Donegal. Those three counties are the geographic outposts of the country and there isn't a single town in any of those counties served by a motorway. So enough people will use a smaller local airport to make it viable (or in Donegal's case it will be eligible for PSO funding - again not an option for Waterford).

And that's why they're not comparable to Waterford and why a similar airport just isn't likely to be viable. Waterford isn't comparable to those other places, no matter how much some people on here would like to pretend that's not true.

Galway is bigger. Doesn't have an airport. Doesn't need one.

What counties are you including to make up your "600,000" people that don't have an airport nearby?

Limerick is slightly over two hours to Dublin with a motorway and yet Shannon still does well.

Knock airport to Shannon airport is about 1 hr 40. (A good hour of that trip is motorway)

Shannon Airport to Cork Airport is under 2 hours and you also have Kerry in the middle of both of those.

I'm sorry but just because Waterford has a motorway to Dublin is irrelevant, (see an earlier post), it's a minimum 2hr drive outside of peak times, factor in you need to add time in case there is an issue on the N7/M50, generally people will give an extra hour.

People say "2hrs to Dublin" as if you leave your door at 12 and hop on a plane at 2.

There is a good 4-6 hour, time block for anyone travelling from Waterford to Dublin (2 hours drive, leave an hour early just in case, wait time for flight 1 hour minimum, park, get to the airport through security 30 minutes, we are now at 4 hours and 30 minutes before you board your plane) and that is why people use regional Airports and that is why Waterford would start with a London route, do well, and over time increase services, no one is suggesting Waterford becomes a Cork or Knock, but 400k passengers a year like Kerry is very do-able.

One flight a day to London would give your 70k pax out and 70k in. Add in the odd Manchester/Birmingham route and a few sun destinations and you would break 200k pax out.

Now you will say that is a waste of money in operational support, let me tell you the €1-€2 million in op support per year will 100% be blown somewhere else in the country, it won't be put to good use and is tiny money in today's world.

Off set that against having London connectivity on Waterford's and South Easts door step would be huge.

The direct and indirect jobs, the possible boost in tourism and FDI, we are talking tiny money in development and operational support.

You will probably respond with "if you are so sure why has Waterford had no flights since 2016"

The airport have repeatedly stated they do not want to re enter the business of turbo props as they seem it as and unviable future and their sole agenda is to get a runway extension and focus on jet aircraft. This could probably be backed by the only airport operating in the county without a jet capable runway is Donegal which had a PSO route to Dublin and one other flight to Glasgow.

So it's not 600k then and actually it's not 500k either in terms of demand because much of South Tipp is closer to Cork and/or Shannon and northern areas of Carlow and Wexford are closer to Dublin - including Carlow town itself. These populations are not going to use Waterford Airport when they're closer to other airports that have much wider service offerings.

Even parts of County Waterford are closer to Cork Airport than they are to Waterford Airport!

You're going to be that pedantic between 500k/600k people, come on. The 600k figure is actually people within a one hour drive of Waterford so actually its still a very relevant figure. Given the choice between driving one hour to Dublin or one hour to Waterford, I would 100% choose the smaller airport in the smaller city having 3 small kids, even if it cost 20-30% more.

You're also ignoring the main point of what I am saying. Waterford is the main economic driver for the region. This is (supposedly) government policy for decades.

By not having an airport in Waterford then this puts the Region at a disadvantage in terms of trying to attract FDI in comparison to other regions in Ireland and Europe.

A lack of airport in the region has been consistently flagged by Multinationals visiting the area as a deal-breaker.

Waterford city ranked fourth in the Overall Micro European City of the Future and features in the Top Ten in the categories of Economic Potential, Business Friendliness and FDI Strategy, while the South East region ranked in the Top 5 for FDI Strategy for the fourth year in a row.

So why are we not seeing huge investment here? A lack of airport is clearly one of the reasons for this along with the lack of a full stand alone university (which we are also consistently told we don't deserve!!).

One of his main contentions is that it's not just €12m. But even if this is what its yearly costs are then your point still stands

I really wanted this runway extension to happen but i think it looks less and less likely as time moves on. I think the only option now would be to try and get other private investment to help plug the gap. I think that they should try and focus on aircraft overhaul and repair facilities like Shannon has been successful in attracting. These provide decent quality jobs and qualifications compared to using the land to build logistics centres. I read an article a few years back that Dublin Aerospace you would build an aircraft maintenance facility if the runway got extended.

The problem with having no current operating airline is compounded by the fact that most turboprop airlines do not have any bases near London anymore. The primary destination from WAT is Luton and there is only Ryanair or Easyjet with jets. You need to have some kind of an operation into Luton in order to tag on a flight to Waterford. Loganair or Emerald have nothing near Luton to even offer a W pattern tag. So the lack of current service is not because of demand, it is because the airline sector has changed and turboprobs are not located in places that could serve WAT.

You seem like someone with a keen interest in Irish aviation and want to see it succeed and thrive in all corners of the island.

One other poster on here is clearly very knowledgeable and interested in the Irish aviation industry.

But for some unknown reason does not want airport investment in one of Ireland's largest cities/Regions.

Its difficult to get private investment, as everyone knows I am supportive of this project but anyone will tell you, you will make little to no return on investing in a regional airport, hence why I am skeptical of the Galway lads.

Unless you have some other asset or assets to benefit from the airport then it's a case of happily losing your money.

So Waterford needs a sugar daddy who will happily blow a couple of million or someone like John Magnier who was flying from Waterford regularly but unfortunately the runway length couldn't support his operations to transport horses and he moved to Shannon.

Someone like him could invest, own a portion, build hangers without rent etc, but I couldn't see him doing it.

So I think private investment is very limited.

I'm of the option if the money is there from the Galway lads, let's just start it and see how far we get and put the ball firmly in the governments court.

And as we still await any news on funding, 10 million is to be spent by the Government on bringing a US Football game to Dublin!!

https://www.rte.ie/sport/us-sport/2025/0513/1512568-minnesota-confirmed-as-opponents-for-historic-nfl-game/

What is the benefit of the Comers sitting on the airport? Like is it just land speculation, with a view to perhaps some day turning the site into housing? Would they even be allowed to do that or there need to be a reclassification of the land?

The other thing is that even though there isn't commercial flights, it's one of the busiest private airports in the country (probably because of the current lack of commercial flights TBH), there's the Rescue 117 helicopter and a decent enough industrial estate out there, so even if they wanted to, would they be able to turn it into housing?

Like these lads are apparently Billionaires, I don't understand why they don't invest a few million and increase the value of their asset multi-fold. Sorry just thinking out loud here.

And before the usual suspects come along we're not just talking flights to London a couple of times a week, we're talking firstly about tourists coming into a region which is noted as being hidden gem but which 90% of tourists skip because it's not on the Dublin/Galway/Kerry route. Secondly there's the potential for an increase in freight which would help industry in the region and God knows we need that here. Look at the industrial estates around Shannon!

Notwithstanding the fact the governments have already pledged to build the **** thing, it's in their 2040 strategic plan, and that the South East is an unemployment blackspot in which the tax payers of this region only get a fraction of what they pay in tax back in capital investment and services. If thy don't invest in this region then I don't know how they expect anything to change.

as others have stated, the comers have a history of asset speculation, regularly sitting on property and land, i.e. hoarding, and just waiting, their aim is to take on as little risk as possible, in the hope of a future pay off. i wouldnt be surprised if they already own property and land in the region, but ive no proof of that, a few million is small change to them, if they get a bigger pay out later, such behavior tends towards more short term thinking, id be wary of them

yea my suspicion is you ll find it hard to find the assets owned by comers, as they ll probably be hidden behind other 'owners', theyd be no fools!

And is why are public GoFund me is needed ASAP to force the government's hand