Again what does it matter?
The airport had two possibly three options.
1. Close the doors
2. Limp on in the hope of government support or find an alternative investor, and hoping in the interim the council can continue to provide funding
3. Give it to an investor and hope for the best.
or maybe 4. encourage an investor in, placing strict conditions on the terms and conditions in regards ownership and control of the assets(ideally keeping them in public ownership), and then hope for the best!
Get real. Please.
You make out like there's an endless number of Warren's who just can't wait to invest their money in the airport/Waterford/Ireland.
There aren't and we are lucky to be where we are.
He is clearly interested in Irish aviation..
..but seemingly would have rathered the airport go under.
This clearly shows there is some kind of weird agenda towards the airport for some unknown reason.
If you could post those investors, then please do.
Time was of the essence here, the airport was literally at the point of closing the doors, I do not think they were in any position to try and hardball.
He lives in absolute fantasy land.
Like people need a reality check with this project. The government were never going to support it. It was all waffle from them and highlighted how weak Butler and Cummins are. We have literally been blessed with this individual investing because the Dublin/Cork centric government had no intention ever. Onwards and upwards.
The really good thing about this is that WAT is now a privately owned Airport, and if I dare use the word Fact again? it is a fact that private companies are quicker to react and pivot in light of changes in the marketplace etc , thereby taking advantage of opportunities that can present themselves,#
I have high hopes (groan) for WAT tbh, It could be an overnight success story, after 40 years.
I think waterford will do well. It's got a lot of things going for it. The catchment area is good.
I think in 20-30 years from now people will look back and say this was a good decision.
I'm looking forward to following this project
100%
I know its anecdotal and not really indicative of much but I can see my family alone using this airport about 10 times a year if they have a good value flight to London.
Same including if it serves other big UK airports like Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow etc
It's €43-€45 Bus return (Waterford-Dublin Airport) for JJ Kavanaghs. Tbh who wouldn't rather pay a similar amount towards a return flight from Waterford Airport
Sure look at it this way, it previously did two daily London/Luton flights and filled both. So that's at least one daily London flight full a day.
It will definitely be used, especially if the fares are reasonable.
Actually, it isn't. Two full ATRs = 45 fewer seats than one full 737. Again, a surprising lack of basic aviation knowledge on this thread from a group of people who are all too quick to put the boot into anyone who dares to hold a different point of view to them.
Give it a rest you knobhead
Would you ever piss off and annoy some other regional discussions on boards!!!!
Ah don't say that..I actually enjoy his posts, the furthur the project progresses the more desperate they sound, as can be seen from the one above!
Maybe WAT can overtake NOC someday that would be hilarious!
You are correct, the point I was making is the demand has always been there for a London flight especially Luton, two daily flights in the winter and 3 daily flights in the summer WAT operated to Luton.
That was also alongside Birmingham and Manchester.
My point being, as I have previously stated, 1 london flight daily full both ways is over 120k pax, most likely beating Waterford previous most successful years.
You may argue that is small numbers, but nobody expects Waterford to be hitting 400k in it's first few years, I suspect, they will want to established a London route, make it a success and build from there.
And before you ask again, yes funding will most likely be provided by government which is funded by us the tax payer.
Local radio WLRfm will be broadcasting live from the sod turning event so if you want any further information you can listen to that online where I suspect they will be interview William Bolster, airport management etc
At its peak there were 3 daily flights to Luton operated with a 72 seater ATR. Two operated by the Waterford aircraft and one on a W pattern from Galway. Thats 216 seats each way.
Will be no problem with the load factor on a daily 737 to either Luton or Stansted.
speaking of London Airports
Waterford-London City Airport would be goals but won't happen esp with British Airways operating the Dublin return flights
I mean I'd take it over no flights, but it wouldn't be my first choice. Or many peoples first choice for that matter.
Depends on what you're doing in London etc
Most London airports expect Southend are very easily accessible to/from the Central London through Express bus/trains and the likes
London City was considered twice from Waterford. The first attempt came from VLM Airlines with the initial launch, as LCY had previously been one of their main UK hubs while operating under CityJet. However, the figures did not stack up, and they ultimately chose Luton instead.
Later, Powdair also explored launching a Waterford–London City service following VLM’s collapse, but they too ended up as another failed startup airline.
In general, London City is simply too expensive an airport for a market like Waterford. Any operation would likely require turboprops or smaller regional jets such as the Embraer E190 in order to make shorter LCY runway economics work.
Deise Today special from the airport tomorrow with Damien Tiernan
Has the airport not suffered enough ...
https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2026/0518/1573856-waterford-airport-event/
Fantastic, you almost have to pinch yourself as we have been waiting for this for so long.
The man of the moment
Is that Mary Butler in the front row?
Yeah sure she was integral to getting the funding for this runway.
LMAO…..the poor woman is just an awful politician.
