Mr. John Mulhern:

I thank the Deputy. The support of the Deputy and that of his party for the airport is very much appreciated. He has spoken to me on a number of occasions, has visited us and supported us through this difficult time, which is appreciated.

We are in very difficult times and we do welcome the funding and supports that were announced yesterday for the regional airports, not just ourselves, but also to our friends in Donegal and Ireland West. It is difficult to estimate yet how the funding will sustain us, because we are not sure how Ryanair will make decisions on connections with returning routes from suspension over the winter. What we know so far is that potentially there will only be four flights per week with Ryanair: two to Stansted Airport and two to Luton Airport. Those alone will not sustain us through the winter. As the Deputy said, we fought bravely to keep all of our employees at work, despite reducing salaries by around 15%. We were lucky enough to have an entire fleet of aircraft from one of the airlines parked at the airport, which brought in a significant amount of income and kept most of our employees at work, without the need to use the employment wage support scheme. However, the cancellation and suspension of all Ryanair flights, without that income that we had from aircraft parking, has put us in a position where we have no choice but to lay off approximately 50% of our staff for a number of weeks.

On the issue of the PSO route project, it is essential to our survival. It ran throughout the lockdown and it made it possible for many people in Kerry to make journeys to Dublin that were essential, including people I know myself who were undergoing cancer treatment in Dublin. We were very grateful for that.

As regards figures for the third quarter, numbers of passengers picked up significantly in comparison to the second quarter, but they were nothing like they would normally be in that period. We were handling around 1,200 to 1,400 passengers per week in quarter three, when we would normally handle many multiples of that. Presently, our passenger numbers are down around 90% year-on-year. That gives the committee an idea of the impact of Covid-19.

We also have significant traffic between the airport and the United States. We have great connections with some of the large golf courses and tourist centres in the south-west, and it drives a large proportion of our commercial activity. Of course, all of that was lost to Covid. We hope that the vaccine and the new travel corridors will bring back that traffic in 2021. It is a major part of our income and it is a major employer for many parts of Kerry, so it must return. We hope that corridor to the United States will reopen, especially with the good news of the election of President-elect Biden who is a friend of Ireland and the west of Ireland, and we hope that news will help bring about a recovery in our connections to the United States. Those American tourists are very important to us. On average, they spend multiple amounts in comparison to some other tourists in the local economies and sustain employment and livelihoods for so many.

I thank the Deputy for his questions and his support. Like the other airports, we would welcome any supports from Government to help us achieve smaller airline connections to regions, particularly into 2021, when they will be more important than ever.