its actually extremely worrying, an astonishing level of shortsightedness, i think we ve been had, but time will tell, theres was no chance an airline would have rocked up as is, but theres only a slight chance when these works are complete, i think theres a lot of fawning over investors happening here, which isnt always a good thing!
Aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile !
I'm sure it has been stated already, I definitely have. The airport as it was had literally gone past borrowed time.
Had the shareholders held onto their shares and Billy big bucks pulled out. They would have been left with nothing either way.
There were two options, stay as you are and close the doors or let Billy big bucks have a pop at it.
Neither might produce the desired outcome but option B is far better than option A
And Kramer stated numerous times not one cent of tax payers money was to be spent on the airport and the lousy 12m should be spent on anything other than WAT in the SE instead because WAT was a private company (filled with small shareholders) .so along comes a billionaire, and Kramer is still complaining and now showing fake concern for the same shareholders he demonised..no matter what happened with WAT whether private or taxpayer led any investment is null and void in his eyes
How much were were those original shares worth when the original shareholders gave them up and how much would they have been diluted by the 30 million euro new investment?
How much would those original shares be worth without the significant investment in developing the the airport?
We don't know that there were only two options though. It's clear that Billy Billionaire wanted the airport together with a longer runway to land his planes in. It's clear that the cost to make that happen was small change to him.
Everyone knows that this deal will be judged a success or a failure for the region based on whether or not the Ryanair planes are landing and taking off in two years, five years and ten years time. So why not negotiate some ongoing funding of commercial services into the deal while they had the leverage to do it? €20m over five years towards commercial services or whatever. It's too late now that they've given up their shares for nothing.
If this guy was as much of a good news story for the region as the outgoing shareholders would like us to believe he is then presumably he'd have been happy to make that commitment. The fact that there is no such financial commitment in the deal strongly suggests that the only interests he is serving here are his own.
If and when the airport remains in the hands of an overseas owner and without commercial passenger services in a few years time there are likely to be some questions being asked of the shareholders who gave it all away for free.
You've repeatedly made it clear that you think the airport is not commercially viable in any shape or form.
So why do you care if he just extends the runway for himself and doesn't allow any commercial airlines in? Surely that's your dream outcome?
I can say for a fact, the airport had two options, close the doors, or find some sort of private investment.
No doubt he will use it for his personal benefit, and I suspect with whatever deal he did, it would be along the lines of, "I'll do the development and you can worry about commerical flights and other aviation sectors"
It will be all the one to him whether that works or not, but the only alternative was to close the doors, I can guarantee that would have been the only outcome had he not come on the scene.
As previously said. Absolute worst case scenario, Waterford has a large runway, SAR services remain, aero club remains, Atlantic flight school remains and there you go, and we see an increase in private services.
Why would it be my dream outcome? I have no personal preference either way, my interest is just in terms of Irish aviation in general.
It's not about "allowing commercial airlines in". I can't imagine the new owner will have any problem with that, in principle. It's about who is paying to cover the losses they will generate for the airport when Michael O'Leary demands free access, which he undoubtedly will. The airport has been given away by the local community to a secretive foreign owner with dubious links in the US, in the hope of gaining commercial services, with no promise of them being funded by the owner in return.
The local councils have now washed their hands of it. Meanwhile the outgoing board are patting themselves on the back as they leave and the locals are being told the Ryanair planes will be landing next summer, when there's absolutely nothing in print to suggest that will actually be the case. It's a bizarre situation.
The small shareholders including myself did not give up their shares, they held shares in a company that went bust!
A guy with deep pockets agreed to pick up the remants of that company and pay all the outstanding bills that woukd not have been paid otherwise.
That Same individual is now going to finance building the big runway that WAT always needed to have a real chance
The WCC have caveats in the deal that he must jump certain fences at specific times to honour the deal. IAA licence etc, PAX.
WCC also can claw back 50% of the land value if he decides to flip it.
So can people stop having opinions on the facts please?
They are the facts and in all honesty I hold no candke for the Guy but we are damn lucky Billy Bolster found him or this would be a discussion on a wake.
Again that point has been discussed to death, if WAT gets commerical services it will be entitled to funding under the regional airport program as the other regional airports do with commerical services.
The tax payer will foot the cost as with most things in this country.
You argued that this money could/should be spent elsewhere in the South East, but have failed to say where to spend it.
Let's say the operation cost is 2million per year, in terms of health, education or an area that counts, that level of funding would get nothing substantial.
Except those aren't the facts at all. The shareholders voted to liquidate the company in order to hand it to Warren, that's absolutely not the same as it going bust. And there is nothing in the deal about PAX numbers.
You have either lied multiple times in your post or you have given up your shares without understanding the terms under which you did it. It's one or the other.
And that funding will barely scratch the surface of the costs involved. And no funding at all will be provided until there are services in place. So someone has to pay to initiate them. And pay millions more on top of that on an ongoing basis to retain them. As has been pointed out to you and others multiple times.
Jeez what's with all the negativity on here, are we not allowed to be happy that the extension is FINALLY HAPPENING after all these years?????
Because its actually killing some people that its actually happening.
I didn't realise what I was talking to!
Don't worry I won't make that mistake again.
Waterford needed about 600k a year over the past few years to keep operational, if they don't get commerical services that is a drop in the ocean for the American to continue to use the airport for himself, so I wouldn't be worried about that level of funding.
If the airport attracts commerical services, they will require increased funding and will no doubt knock on the governments door.
In the early days of Cork, Shannon, Knock etc how did they survive? Government support. That is how Waterford will survive and progress, it's simple really.
No one has denied it will need support if it operators commerical services, as I have said 101 times before, it's not like that money would be spent elsewhere in the southeast.
The worry or possible your worry is, if Waterford ends up pulling from the regional airport funding there might be less for the rest, but as you have stated how viable these other airports are they surely require less funding at this stage, and away like all things in ireland, government would just increase the spending.
I honestly feel like this argument is doing a full circle and we are discussing points that have been discussed to death.
Maybe going forward we should change the discussion, ground is due to be broke soon, so let's discuss the development, and in time let's discuss commerical operations or non commerical operations and what funding is required/provided, as one thing is clear the extension is going ahead, so let's see what comes next.
Strip out government funding across all industries and what would we be left with? A very bleak, jobless and economically dead country as a whole.
Government funding seems to work very well for the rest of the country and other regional airports.
But not for Waterford airport it seems.
I have no "possible worries". However, as long as vested interests keep coming on here posting misinformation, as has happened repeatedly, including by the former shareholder who posted a few posts up the thread about supposed "facts", I don't see why anyone should have an issue with that misinformation being corrected. Unless, of course, being truthful with people doesn't suit certain agendas…
What leads you to believe that you know about the inner workings of the deal more than a shareholder who was directly involved?
The details have been widely publicised and publicly discussed by William Bolster and others involved. So that's how I know. There really isn't any ambiguity here, or at least there shouldn't be. All the relevant information is in the public domain.
But there is a significant amount of misinformation being posted on this thread by some of those that are particularly favourably disposed towards this being a success in terms of commercial flights. It seems strange that you or anyone else would have an issue with incorrect "facts" being corrected. But here we are.
I’m struck by how confidently some people present “facts” when, in reality, their understanding of the situation appears incomplete. Based on previous posts, I suspect that Curmudgeonly may have close connections to Waterford Council, the Airport, or possibly both. Any claim to have greater insight than the shareholders who attended the EGM is, frankly, difficult to take seriously.
By the time of the EGM, the airport was technically insolvent, as outlined in draft accounts prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The only viable option was the investment proposal set out in writing to shareholders in the notice for the Extraordinary General Meeting in November 2025. At the December EGM, it was made clear that the only long-term option for the airport was either to accept investment or to cease trading.
The statement, “The shareholders voted to liquidate the company in order to hand it to Warren,” is incorrect. At the November 2025 EGM, shareholders voted to accept the investment and to transfer assets and liabilities to a new company—there was no vote to liquidate.
As confirmed at the April EGM, given that there was no remaining assets or value for existing shareholders, there was a legal requirement to proceed with a solvent liquidation of Waterford Regional Airport Plc
I was at the AGM, I hold no candle for WCC, I am associated to the Airport in the sense that I have a business in the area, but ultimately I want it to succeed now as I did 40 years ago when I built the first fire station for them pro bono. there is such a thing as altruism still in this nasty little world!
I looked at a council drawing online and I saw that a new departures hall extension was part of the runway extension plan. Is this still part of the project or a future plan?
It is a future plan but I'd imagine we will see a planning application submitted later in the year. It's fortunate that the man in the driving seat, William Bolster, happens to have a construction company as among his other business's. And with the speed they are currently constructing the SAR building extension any terminal extension would be a piece of cake.
Fortunate for him anyway - he'll be making himself a nice few quid out of all this no doubt!
For your post to be accurate, "curmudgeonly" would need to be more closely connected to the deal than William Bolster, given that Bolster has explicitly confirmed that there is no provision for commercial flights in the deal!
Based on his posts to date it appears far more likely that "curmudgeonly" is simply as uninformed as many of the other shareholders who were tripping over themselves to hand over the facility to an overseas billionaire with no promise of commercial services for the public in return.
Amazing the Kramer thinks he knows more than all the shareholders and successful business people put together..apart from the fact that a very successful Irish aviation professional in David Scully is now also on the new board of directors..but nope Kramer speaks the truth and we all better bow down to his superior wisdom.. lol
Ah, yes..he's a business man that's what they do, he is not a charity..what are you going to tell us next? Water is wet!!
Your posts are beginning to sound more and more desperate..I'd say your some craic on a night out!
Why don't you come down to the sod turning Monday week, we'll get you a seat up front, a bit of finger food, maybe even get you into a few photos! Though I fear the only way we'll see you is chained to the front of a bulldozer wearing your Mayo jersey screaming "Noooooooooooo!!!"
The funny thing is that the only way Warren can make money is if this thing is a success.
