LAST UPDATE | 20 Oct 2025

WATERFORD COUNCILLORS HAVE backed a deal that they hope will allow private sector investment worth up to €32 million to make the regional airport viable again.

It will mean commercial flights – which have not been seen in the south-east since 2016 – could return within two years.

Councillors voted overwhelmingly this afternoon to transfer 207 acres at Waterford Airport over to the new investors.

It’s hoped that this will allow a mystery US investor to enter the fray and pump the promised millions to make the airport viable, similar to Knock in Co Mayo or Shannon in Co Clare.

The lands are currently owned by Waterford City and County Council but will now be turned over to the Waterford Airport Limited.

This company was recently established by the largest shareholder in the airport, the Bolster Group.

The plan would see €30 million invested in the airport runway expansion and a further €2 million for a new Search and Rescue base helicopter base and accommodation.

It would see a target of 400,000 passengers handled annually within five years.

These proposals include a new 205 space car park and the potential for hotel accommodation.

Council chief executive Seán McKeown told today’s meeting that the plan would be a “transformative” for Waterford and the south-east, boosting tourism and creating jobs.

He said all stakeholders have been in agreement that the only way to make the viable is to lengthen and widen its runway. This would give it a better better of attracting airlines and modern aircraft.

Land transfer

According to an independent valuation, the lands are estimated to be worth €2.295 million but will handed over at a cost of just €50,000.

McKeown said this was “under valuing” the cost of the land. The deal will also see €670,000 in advance payments, owed by the former Waterford Airport company to the council, waived.

Addressing councillors today at City Hall in Waterford, McKeown accepted it was a “huge ask” of councillors as they’re not allowed to know the investor’s name publicly.

The council CEO said he was given the name of the mystery investor, who he said is from the US and of “substantial means”, but said he has signed a deal of non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that prohibits him from naming the businessman.

“I wasn’t comfortable with signing an NDA but they’re not unusual,” McKeown said, adding that talks have been underway for the past two months.

He said the investor “insisted” on a freehold deal – which allows them to own the land at the airport – rather than a temporary arrangement via a leasehold. This will see the council give up its role in the airport.

In 2019, matching State funding worth €5 million was made in principle. Inflation has seen the cost rise ever since and scuppered those plans.

McKeown said that the council was left in this position today because the previous investors, the Comer Group, backed away. He explained that this happened when those negotiations for matching Government funding failed to make any headway for the runway expansion.

Waterford Airport's last commerical flight was in 2016. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Negotiation have been underway for past two months with the investor, McKeown added.

“An alternative investment proposal simply doesn’t exist,” McKeown said.

“Years of effort to secure investment have been unsuccessful.”

McKeown added that previous councils had been “trying to make a go of this for the last 40 years, and have been unable to do so”.

He also said that today’s meeting that the “clock is ticking” and that the terms of the contract require the runway expansion works to start quickly.

Private flights and aviation training are currently run from the airport but it has not had a commercial flight since a route to Luton closed in 2016.

Councillor reaction

Since it first opened in 1981, the airport has seen significant involvement from the local authority, which has had at least two seats on its board.

One of those council representatives on the airport board, Independent Declan Barry, told the chamber that “no other fairy godmother could have come along” to save the company.

“We’re at a make or break point here now and we should grasp this.”

If the money was not provided, the the airport would be ”limping on” being supported by taxpayer’s money.

The plan received overwhelming support from councillors. However, some were critical of the plan, even while offering support.

Fine Gael councillor Damien Geoghegan said recent years have seen the airport “on life support” as a subvention of at least €300,000 was provided every year by the council to keep its doors open and maintain the 16-18 jobs still there.

He added that he believes the taxpayer was being “stiffed” by the waiver of €670,000 owed to the council. This was disputed by Social Democrats councillor Mary Roche who said the plan needed to be viewed as an investment.

Others said it was critical to preserve the airport in any way, as they feared that if it closed then it would mean the permanent loss of the Search and Rescue base.

Independent councillor Donal Barry criticised the most critical so far, saying that there has been “limited transparency” on the deal.

But he adds that the investor has “done in few short weeks what the Govt could not – review the business case and make a decision” on the airport.