Stories
After a gig in Achill Island, Christy Moore pulled over for a nap on his way back to Dublin. When he woke up, he realised he was parked next to a massive runaway.
“I didn’t know what was going down at all like, I knew there was an aerodrome in Baldonnel, I knew there was one in Collinstown and one down in Weston, but I didn’t know there was one in Knock.”
So goes the story behind the lyrics of his 1994 Knock Song, written about the development of the Ireland West Airport Knock.
The song reflects the arbitrariness of the small airports that litter Ireland’s countryside, which blossomed during the 80s in an effort to drive tourism and economic development to the country’s more secluded destinations.
With the increasing concentration of travel out of national hubs like Dublin and Cork, and improved motorways paving the way for easier road travel around the country, the future of Ireland’s smaller airports is up in the air.
However, now that Stripe co-founder John Collison has joined a group of investors to buy into the aforementioned Weston Airport in Co Kildare, the country’s smaller airports aren’t grounded yet.
The purchase begs the question, though: What does the future hold for the fleet of small airports scattered across Ireland’s scenic countryside?
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“We are probably overpopulated with airports given the size of the country,” said Kevin Cullinane, group head of communication at the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).
The DAA is the company that owns and operates Dublin and Cork airport, the nation’s two largest hubs.
“It goes back to the state looking for a way of connecting Ireland to the world and getting Irish people abroad. At one point, we had regional airports in every western county, but in later years, the economic viability of sustaining those smaller airports disappeared, and we saw a number of them closing.”
Galway airport hasn’t served a commercial flight since 2011, and Waterford airport saw its last commercial flight depart in 2016.
With the harsh pandemic losses the nation’s airports have suffered in the past year, more may be on the way out, but some regional airports might have a better chance at surviving than larger ones thanks to their unique business model.
Unlike the nation’s major hubs like Cork, Dublin, and Shannon, which are for-profit establishments that rely on high passenger volumes to fund their sustainability, regional airports are heavily subsidised by the government.
Due to this, Cullinane said some small airports were able to cope better during the pandemic having already operated at a loss, compared to the larger, more commercial focused hubs.
“Airports like Dublin and Cork are commercial semi-states, they operate commercially as viable, sustainable businesses. Our primary consumers are airlines that run in and out of these airports, they facilitate supply and demand,” Cullinane said.
“Regional airports largely depend on government funding and capital investments. They are not sustainable, viable enterprises in their own rights. They wouldn’t have the levels of income to sustain a regional airport. They depend largely on government assistance to stay open.”
The government will only continue to support these regional airports if they continue to deliver the contribution to economic prosperity they were built for, which may be in jeopardy.
“Dublin catches the vast majority of the country, and the new motorways allow for that,” Cullinane said. “The catchment area for Dublin airport is much bigger than just Dublin. Cork would define their catchment area as anything in a 90 min commute to their airport. There are 1.6 million Irish people in that area. Between those two, the whole country is pretty much covered.”
Donal Healy, head of business development and communications at Knock airport, doesn’t think that the spot responsible for a Christy Moore classic will be going out of style anytime soon, though.
“Our airport has been here since 1988. We are a huge support space from the west to north-west in Ireland, and we expect that to grow,” he said.
The airport is owned by the Connaught Airport Development Company, which has operated the airport since its inception.
Healy explained that tourism is not the only source of passengers the airport has, which is why he is hopeful for its long term viability.
“There is a very strong link here between the London market and the UK,” he said. We have first, second, and third-gen immigrants from either side travelling back and forth. That traffic has remained strong through a number of recessions. That market will always be there for me.”
Donegal Airport’s Steve O’Culain is also confident that the airport will remain viable, but through a separate market.
Owned and managed by a private company called Aerphort Idirnaisiúnta Dhún na nGall Teo, Donegal Airport has been able to avoid the impediment that has plagued its counterparts: motorways.
“We don’t have a direct motorway from Dublin,” the company’s chairman said. “I can drive from Galway to Dublin in two hours, but it’s five hours from Donegal at least, and that’s if you don’t get stuck behind a tractor. People are time-poor, they can’t afford to spend a day travelling to and from a place of work or holiday.”
Donegal’s geographical isolation has allowed its airport to sustain significant demand from tourists, whereas most sightseers have reverted to driving to other locations.
“Air travel to Donegal is not a luxury but a lifeline, and it’s continuing to attract investment,” O’Culain said. “I think in a nutshell that’s what it’s about.”
Donegal, like all airports in the country, must first overcome torrential losses caused by the pandemic before they can think about long-term viability.
Covid impact
Donegal airport’s most popular route, to and from Dublin, had been growing steadily for almost a decade, amassing over 37,000 passengers in 2019. In 2020, that number fell to 14,000.
The airport was able to chug along thanks to government support.
“During Covid, we’ve managed to retain our staff of 30, due to the help of various programmes that paid for staff. Without that help and support, we wouldn’t be able to do that,” said O’Cuilan.
These programmes, like the Regional Airports Programme (RAP), have been paying for operational aspects of small airports for decades, like air traffic control, infrastructure renovations and security. Since the pandemic started, though, they have taken a more active role in keeping the airports alive.
Knock has faced even harsher losses.
In 2019, the airport flew over 800,000 passengers. In 2020, it logged only 140,000.
“We haven’t seen numbers like that since 1995. It is catastrophic, really,” Knock’s Healy said.
Knock also availed of support funding to keep its heads above water.
“We got very good support from the government and other support systems that have been put in place so that we could stay in the air in the past year, and that has saved us,” Healy said.
In July, the Department of Transport announced a €23 million support payment to Irish airports. The funds went to six locations, three of which were regional airports at Knock, Kerry and Donegal, all commonplace for government funding. Dublin, Cork, and Shannon, which historically would not be privy to government support outside of major renovations, also saw a share of the money.
The government has had to take on a vastly more active role with all airports through the pandemic, seeing as the Irish aviation industry as a whole was one of the most impacted sectors in the country during the pandemic.
“At the depths of Covid, we lost over 90 per cent of capacity across the country. It caused a huge drop in Ireland’s connectivity through the world,” said DAA’s Cullinane.
The DAA lost almost €300 million last year, the most in its 80-year history. At its worst, the company was losing €1 million a day.
“At the outset of the pandemic, we were just repatriating people, facilitating cargo flights, we had PPE flown in from across the world, and maintaining vital economic links for essential workers. The number of flights dramatically decreased.”
Smaller airports were able to find a silver lining, though, drawing attention from travellers away from mega hubs and towards less crowded ports.
“With Covid, the whole travel dynamic has changed, and we are confident people are moving towards smaller airports because they are easier to get in and out of,” said Knock’s Healy.
“There is a sense that if you come to a smaller airport, it is not as busy, and there is more space to circulate. Our car park to departures walk is 10 minutes, no need for big long shuttle busses. Generally, the airport experience is pleasant, spacious, and that’s a unique selling point in terms of attracting business from further fields across Ireland.”
Donegal’s O’Culain agreed.
“In a funny way, Covid has helped highlight us, it has focused the Irish population on Donegal,” he said. “We hope to build on that, our numbers have definitely dipped but we just have to get the airlines back flying again.”
For places like Donegal, the airport is vital to the local economy.
According to draft figures from Fáilte Ireland, every €1 million spent by tourists in Donegal creates 27 jobs and supports over 5,000 more. The county saw over 700,000 visitors in 2019, which brought in over €200 million, according to the Donegal tourist board.
“I think for Donegal, without an air link, you would absolutely choke your potential for tourism and for business,” said O’Culain. “It would not be impossible to develop the tourism industry in Donegal without air, it wouldn’t be able to take off. The government departments do understand this, which is why they support us.
“The airport is a big seller for us [in Donegal], people can fly into Dublin, fly into Donegal in a couple of hours and have access to the whole north-west,” O’Culain said.
The airport recently commissioned an economic impact study that identified that the airport’s total economic impact to the North West Region amounted to €46.6 million. In addition to the 30 people directly employed at the airport, the hub also supports the indirect employment of 393 people in the region.
Knock airport has a similar impact further south.
“The Wild Atlantic Way is right at our doorstep, so we can support the region, which is a massive destination,” said Knock’s Healy. “That market ensures that the airport will grow.”
Despite Healy’s high hopes, the focus for Irish airports, and the entire Irish aviation industry for the next five years, will be on rebuilding the market to where it was pre-Covid.
Skies ahead
“The challenge now is trying to rebuild those once strong networks that we lost over the past two years,” the DAA’s Cullinane said.
“We are seeing positive developments, particularly with the home airlines, Aer Lingus and Ryanair. We have seen a resurgence in numbers on popular domestic routes through the summer. With 75 per cent of the adult population vaccinated, there is increased consumer confidence to travel again.”
Cullinane said he expects international business and tourism traffic to rebound in due time, but those do not drive traffic to regional airports. The survival of those airports depends on Irish tourist’s appetite to travel in their own country.
“We need the indigenous tourism industry to rebound to keep those regional airports going. We are open to visitors and are famous internationally for having some of the friendliest destinations in the world for tourists, but these small airports generally rely on domestic tourism. A family flying in from Croatia would probably be happy to drive a couple of hours through the country to see the landscape, but a young professional in Dublin would rather just hop on a quick flight.”
Across all Irish aviation, one thing’s for sure – it will take time for the pandemic dust to settle to properly understand how the market will be affected in the long term.
“ The optimistic forecast would probably be 2024 before we are back to 2019 levels of traffic,” Cullinane said. A pragmatist would say 2025, the pessimists are saying after that.”
Despite the long road ahead, Cullinane said Ireland has built a reputation as a strong travel destination for a reason, and the nation’s allure has not disappeared.
“Ireland is well-positioned in terms of Europe and the US, which are the key markets for investment and tourism. Significant demand has pent over the last year and a half for travel. We will be back in the air soon.”
