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THE MYSTERY INVESTOR that is set to pump €30 million into Waterford Airport in order to make it viable again is Texas-based billionaire and Trump donor Kelcy Warren.
The Texan billionaire – who heads up oil and gas company pipeline Energy Transfers and owns Castletown Cox Estate in Co Kilkenny – had been rumoured locally to be the investor behind the multi-million euro plan but his identity has been withheld over recent months.
His investment is part of a plan, backed by Waterford councillors last October, to transfer 207 acres at the airport in order to help return international flights after a gap of a decade.
It’s understood that talks will take place with airlines including Aer Lingus Regional, Ryanair, Whizz Air and Easyjet as the company targets resuming operations next year.
The project could create up 100 jobs during construction according to sources.
Lands owned by Waterford City and County Council will be transferred to Waterford Airport Limited – a company that was recently established by the largest shareholder in the airport, the Bolster Group.
The public land, valued at €2.3 million, was sold for €50,000.
In return, the plan would see Warren invest €30 million in the airport runway expansion and a further €2 million for a new Search and Rescue base helicopter base. It’s planned accommodation units will also be constructed.
It would see a target of 400,000 passengers handled annually within five years, with hopes of attracting the likes of Aer Lingus Regional and Ryanair to the airport.
International flights haven’t operated at the airport since 2016 but it’s hoped they could return within two years.
The council and the company that were jointly running the airport have cited a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that has prohibited parties from naming Warren as the investor.
Warren has been a prominent donor to US president Donald Trump’s election campaigns, with the businessman and his wife Amy contributing more than $20 million (€17.1 million) to Trump’s White House runs between 2016 and 2024.
His property interests include an 8,000-acre ranch in Texas and a private island in Honduras but he also bought Castletown Cox Estate in south Kilkenny for €12.6m in 2018.
Warren founded Energy Transfers in 1996 and it has reported annual revenue of more than $80 billion for 2024.
He’s said to be worth €7.2 billion personally, according to the Forbes Rich list – which ranks him as the 538th richest person in the world.
In 2016, Energy Transfers was involved in a controversial pipeline project in the US state of North Dakota which resulted in protests by Native American tribes in a case that drew international attention.
The fallout from that case continues today. Warren’s company is currently suing environmental NGO Greenpeace over their attempts to stop the pipeline cutting through Native American land.
Energy Transfer has blamed the group for construction delays, hitting them with a lawsuit for $300 million.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal last year, Greenpeace has warned that the case could bankrupt the environmental group’s US chapter.
Councillors had expressed unease about the requirement for the investor to remain anonymous – including to them – ahead of their agreement last October to give up their interest in the company by handing over lands to the newly established company set up to operate the company.
However, The Journal understands several councillors had learned his identity prior to the October meeting.
One councillor told that public meeting that the local authority was “not getting the best deal but we’re getting a deal”, summing up the sentiment of many in the room.
Many councillors told that October meeting that they felt they had no choice but to embrace the new deal. Many echoed the view of one councillor who said the airport has been on “life support” for years, as it struggled to gain approval from the Department of Transport for funds to expand the runway.
This company, Waterford Airport Limited, was established by the main shareholder in the airport, the Bolster Group.
The Bolster Group has been credited with securing Warren’s involvement in the new plan to revive the airport for commercial flights for the first time in a decade by increasing the size of its runway to an international standard for modern aircraft.
Bolster is the sole director of the newly established Waterford Airport Limited which will oversee its operations and he is responsible for securing the new private sector investment.
Warren was previously named in a statement last by People Before Profit in a statement denouncing the deal. It further criticised the Government for not investing in the airport, while questioning Warren’s links to Trump.
The Journal has previously contacted Energy Transfers about the involvement of Warren in the airport. It has not responded at the time of writing but sources with knowledge of the deal have outlined the Texan’s involvement.
William Bolster, the main shareholder in the airport, appeared on local radio WLR last October to discuss the deal.
When it was put to Bolter by veteran broadcaster Damien Tiernan at the time that the investor is a “big Donald Trump supporter and a “big Maga supporter” and if there was the potential for military flights similar to Shannon Airport in Waterford, Bolster sought to rule this out.
He said that “military flights” had been discussed, adding that he was “glad to say” any decision would fall to the Department of Foreign Affairs. As with the use of Shannon Airport, the decision would also fall to politicians in the Oireachtas.
Bolster said in the interview at the time that the vote by councillors to approve the airport plan “felt like history in the making” as it may make the regional air route viable for the first time in decades.
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