What is happening with Waterford Airport? Here’s what we know…

It’s been over six years now since plans were first announced to redevelop Waterford Airport. At the time, the project to extend the airport’s runway was expected to cost €12 million.

However, things have changed significantly since. Amid a pandemic and two general elections, making a case for the airport’s redevelopment has proved difficult.

In December 2023, it was widely reported that a business case had been submitted to the Department of Transport to extend the airport’s runway.

EXTENDING THE RUNWAY

Extending the runway is seen as vital to the airport’s future. It would allow larger planes to land at the airport, making it much more attractive for airlines looking to run commercial flights.

The business case outlined plans for how this development would be funded. The Comer Brothers and the Bolster Group, both private investors, had pledged to invest €12 million in the project.

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The request to government was for matching funding of €12 million, as well as €3 million to be invested by local authorities.

Of that €3 million worth of local authority funding, €2.2m was to come from Waterford, €400,000 from Wexford and €400,000 from Kilkenny.

This development proposal was received by the Department of Transport on December 13, 2023.

At that time, convincing the then Green Party leader and Minister for Transport Eamonn Ryan of the project’s viability was seen as a difficult task.

BACK AND FORTH

In February 2024, Department of Transport officials met with airport management to request further information.

The airport board consists of various private investors, the CEO of Waterford Council and two representatives from Waterford City and County Council.

Another meeting took place in March, where the Department sought to check on the airport’s progress.

In April 2024, the airport responded with an updated ‘development proposal’. However, Minister Darragh O’Brien claimed that while some issues had been clarified, others had not.

The following month, then Minister of State Jack Chambers met with the airport board. Waterford TD and Minister of State, Mary Butler, and the CEO of Waterford Council, were also in attendance.

Over the summer of 2024, there were various back and forths between the department and the airport board regarding the need for further clarity on certain aspects of the business case.

PIG IN A POKE

Then, in October, Minister James Lawless made his famous “pig in a poke” comment, appearing to downplay the potential of the development proposal.

This, combined with similar comments made by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, seemed a bitter blow to the airport’s prospects.

With the airport estimated to be running at an operating cost of €300,000 a year, the longer this dragged on, the more expensive it was becoming to the taxpayer.

However, the general election last December seemed to give fresh hope to the project.

The Green Party, often perceived (correctly or otherwise) to have opposed the project for environmental reasons, suffered catastrophic losses.

They were replaced in government by a number of independents, with the Department of Transport now headed by Fianna Fáil’s Darragh O’Brien.

Crucially, the airport’s runway extension was included in the Programme for Government. However, despite these developments, many months passed without any mention of airport’s business case.

SHOCK SETBACK

Then, in April of this year, Minister Darragh O’Brien announced that the Department of Transport had concluded its initial assessment of the business case and was considering its next steps.

Then we were hit with some shock news: the business case that had been discussed all along, wasn’t a business case at all.

After another meeting between airport management and the department, Minister Mary Butler announced on local radio that the document submitted in December 2023 was not a business case at all.

Speaking to WLRFM’s Déise Today, Minister Butler said: “So the story is that the department, in their opinion, does not believe it was a business case.

“And the title of it is ‘The Waterford Airport Capital Expenditure Strategic Assessment Report’. So that was what was submitted to the department.

“And what they also said, and I quote, 'It was not in the format that was requested.’ Now I’m only quoting what was quoted back to us.

“So we need to get to a situation where we work with the hand that is dealt to us,” she concluded.

This news was met with shock locally, given that the document in question had been commonly referred to as the ‘business case’ by local representatives, ministers and even former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

And so, the Waterford Airport redevelopment project appears to be back at square one.

CURRENT SITUATION

The airport board has now been invited to submit what is being described as a “preliminary business case”.

Minister O’Brien said in July that the “department will work with the airport in its development of the business case and any such case will be assessed as a matter of priority when received by my department”.

Local councillors, Jim D’Arcy and Declan Barry, who both sit on the airport board, have said that the development of the new business case may take a year.