Mr. Joe Gilmore:

The board and chair of Ireland West Airport are pleased to advise the business is in a positive recovery phase following a very difficult and challenging period of significant disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic. We wish to acknowledge the positive Government, Department and Exchequer funding supports received during this period in particular, which has enabled the airport to recover to close to 90% of pre-pandemic business levels in 2022. These supports and the strong recovery and support of our main airline partners, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, has resulted in the airport recovering strongly in the second half of 2022 and returning close to full employment levels, from which we take great comfort.

We welcome the opportunity today to attend this meeting of the committee to raise a number of issues for its consideration in review of Ireland’s national aviation policy, NAP. We wish to point out that the issues we will highlight relate for the most part to the upcoming review of the Government’s regional airport’s programme which is the national policy driver on regional airports and which is designed to optimise conditions for regional development and connectivity.

Members will all know about the airport but briefly, Ireland West Airport currently connects the west, north west and midlands regions of Ireland to 20 international destinations across the UK and Europe including major UK cities such as London, Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. The airport also serves a vibrant outbound sun market as well as an inbound tourism market from Italy and Germany.

The importance of the airport to the regions’ economy as a key gateway for the west and north west regions in delivering overseas visitors cannot be overstated. Since the airport officially opened in 1986, more than 13 million passengers have used the facility, further highlighting the major economic, employment and tourism benefits. A recent report by EY estimated that tourism output based on the impact of Ireland West Airport passengers in 2018 was close to €200 million annually, supporting 3,000 jobs and contributing an Exchequer revenue of €30 million.

Its ownership is quite different from some of the other airports respresented here today.

Its ownership structure is a community-public trust operated on a commercial remit for the benefit of all those living in the region. Additionally, seven local authorities across the region have a significant equity stake in the airport. We serve a quarter of the country's landmass, providing critical connectivity to a population catchment of more than 1.2 million. We have the third-longest runway in the country and, at 2,500 m, the capability to handle all types of jet aircraft. We have experienced significant passenger growth since 2010 and we hit more than 800,000 passengers in 2019 for the first time. The airport is identified as a key transport infrastructure hub in the National Development Plan 2018-2027, Project Ireland 2040, national aviation policy and as a key part of the regional airports programme, RAP. The airport is also acknowledged as one of the State’s four main airports and a critical driver of economic and tourism development along the Wild Atlantic Way and Atlantic economic corridor, etc. The investment and commitment by Ryanair to the airport are significant, with 2023 set to be its busiest-ever year at the airport, operating to 16 destinations across the UK and Europe and increasing capacity by a further 15%.

With regard to key developments, there was a recent announcement of a new daily service by Aer Lingus to London Heathrow, meaning for the first time in the airport’s 37-year history, it has secured access to one of Europe’s major international hubs, which is a major boost for the west as it provides onward connectivity to more than 80 destinations globally through Aer Lingus and codeshare partners British Airways and the IAG Group. Like the other airports, we are heavily focused on sustainability and I am pleased to report that we have achieved level 1 in the airport carbon accreditation, ACA, and expect to achieve level 2 accredition later this year.

On issues for consideration in the national aviation policy, the current RAP is due to end in 2025. Our first request is that the programme should continue for at least another five years, given the challenges regional airports faced post Covid-19. We ask the committee to seriously consider a review of the existing 1 million passenger threshold in the context of the challenges resulting from the post-pandemic recovery and current geopolitical situation. For airports with fewer than 1 million passengers, we are seeking that investment aid be allowed to cover 100%. Under current requirements, it is capped at 75% for capital projects, which presents a significant challenge for smaller regional airports to fund the remaining 25% gap on capital projects. We propose that the current limitation, which is currently on safety and security capital expenditure, be expanded to include all capital investment projects at regional airports and include potential terminal and landside expansion and development. It is critical that provision for multi-year programmes is also included. At the moment, it is an annual funding programme. While there is a provision on which we worked closely with the Department, there are no multi-annual criteria to permit projects that will take longer than one year.

As a regional airport, our major challenge is to attract new airlines and new routes to the airport. The introduction of a new route development scheme and potentially also international public service obligations, PSOs, to critical UK and European destinations would provide significant support, in particular, providing some level of marketing and financial support to airlines over years one to three. This would, to a degree, de-risk new connectivity into the regions. I thank the committee for the opportunity to present.