New flights from Waterford Regional Airport should be operating within two months, the chairman of the airport's board, Dr Cormac MacNamara, said yesterday. He also said he was confident of receiving Government funding for a runway extension which the airport needs if it is to have a sustainable future.
With just one daily return service to London, the airport currently caters for between 16,000 and 20,000 passengers a year. Those figures could triple when a new carrier comes in to provide two extra daily return services.
Significantly, the new services are planned for 7.30 a.m. and 7.30 p.m., allowing the airport to cater for more business travellers than at present. A midday service is currently available.
If the new services are to operate to capacity, an extension to the airport's runway, costing between and £1.2 million and £1.5 million, will be required. Dr MacNamara said negotiations with the Department of Public Enterprise with a view to securing funding for the project were at an advanced stage.
He said the Minister, Ms O'Rourke, had recognised that the airport's plans were "realistic, concrete and feasible and not pie in the sky".
In the longer term, the airport will require an additional £6 million to further upgrade the runway to enable it to accommodate jet aircraft. In the meantime the aim is to increase passenger numbers and demonstrate that the airport is viable if the services are available.
"People often ask me why we don't advertise more, but we have one of the highest occupancy rates of any airport in Europe," he said. "The demand is there if we can provide the flights."
Ms O'Rourke confirmed recently that the airport is to receive a marketing grant this year of £157,000. Varying amounts have been allocated to the State's other five regional airports. A spokesman for the Minister said Waterford's application for funding for a runway extension was likely to be considered under the National Development Plan, in which £10 million had been allocated to regional airports.