Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A LONG-AWAITED RUNWAY extension for Waterford Airport has been approved by An Bord Pleanála.
It will allow a 900m runway extension and a widening of the runway, costing at least €12m, which campaigners and business groups hope will attract commercial carriers for the airport as it will allow it to take larger aircraft.
In An Bord Pleanála’s approval letter, which has been seen by this website, it said the proposal would have a negible impact on climate and sought a detailed traffic plan from Waterford City and County Council for the works.
The development will involve an extension of the existing 1,433 metre long runway by 491m at its northern end and 363m at its southern end, resulting in a total runway length of 2,287m.
It will also be widened by 30m in width to 45m.
Fine Gael senator John Cummins, who is a former member of the airport board, said it is a critical piece of infrastructure for the South East region.
“It makes the possibility of securing routes for the airport far more likely into the future than what was the case heretofore,” Cummins said.
He added: “For too long the runway has been an impediment to the growth of the airport. The types of aircraft that were able to land at the runway were restricted, so the planning application that has been approved will facilicate the landing of the main aircrafts of choice for major airlines.”
Public and private funding
The airport received a commitment of €5m capital funding for the extension from the Department of Transport in 2019, but this has been partly contingent on planning approval.
It was then costed at €12m in total, with the other monies for the runway extension at one stage to be provided by a local consortium of regional companies combined with local councils in Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny.
This fell into doubt last year, however it is understood that an investment plan is to be presented to board members and the council imminently.
The Department of Transport confirmed last year it was pulling annual emergency payments to the airport, adding to future fears for the company’s future.
It said at the time that the payments “cannot be continued” in light of the “radically changed outlook” caused by Covid-19.
It also raised doubts over a promised €5m funding for a runway extension granted in 2019, owing to the pandemic and a lack of commercial flights at the airport.
The emergency payments, totalling €1.5m over three years, were provided between 2018 to 2020.
On this, Cummins said he views the runway extension’s approval as being critical to restarting the Department of Transport’s emergency payments.
He said is aware that “management and the board have been working extensively on trying to secure the private investment required to ensure now that this project is realised”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The home of Ryanair, so let’s see them base a plane or 2 there and help the region where it all started.
Brilliant news to the south. Well done to everyone involved
@James Fox: its pointless. Cork airport is just down the road. Blatant political backside kissing.
@Ger Murphy: every region should have an airport. Simple as that. The people of the South East shouldn’t have to travel 2 hours to Cork, going through absolute bottlenecks like Killeagh, Castlemartyr and Middleton. By your thinking, Kerry should never have bothered with Farranfore, yet its a very popular airport. The South East also needs direct foreign investment because it has and always has been looked over.
@Ger Murphy: cork is the south west. Waterford is in the south east. Two different regions
@James Fox: It would be an awful lot cheaper in the long run to put a motorway between the 2. No need for all these airports, especially Farranfore
@Ciarán Ó Duifinn: nonsense
@Thomas O’ Donnell: you are in danger of speaking too much sense
@James Fox: irrelevant, it is still a waste of money. Backward killinaskully mentality looking for another airport. Cork is less than an hour away, Dublin 2 hours, shannon 3 hours. Plenty of options already.
@Ger Murphy: explain why you perceive it to be nonsense Ger?
@Thomas O’ Donnell: Over 1 million passengers annually pre Covid. Get back in your box
@Derek Coffey: Who could fly from Cork or Dublin at less expense to the State
@Ger Murphy: the only way to get from Waterford airport to cork airport in less than an hour would be to fly. Unless you mean that Cork county is less than an hour away which is irrelevant. You’d nearly be at Dublin airport quicker than Cork from Waterford city.
@Ciarán Ó Duifinn: most countries it is normal to travel hour+ to an international airport. Our money would be more constructively spent by having better road connections. This would provide a greater benefit to society in terms of car & bus transport and commerce in general. I have long held the view that Knock and Farnfore airports are an extravagance and a consolidation to 2 or 3 airports with integrated transport makes more sense.
@Ger Murphy:go way boy, it’s nearly quicker getting to Dublin than cork
@John Power: no need for the insults. Let your argument do the talking.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: how do you figure there’s no need for Kerry Airport? It has successful routes to Dublin, London Stansted, London Luton, Manchester, Frankfurt Hahn, Berlin, Faro and Alicante and potential for more
@Ger Murphy: you thinking Farranfore and Knock are an extravagance says it all. Nonsense is your thinking.
@Ciarán Ó Duifinn: Carrigtwohill… can’t forget Carrigtwohill
@Ger Murphy: down the road……try driving it.
@Ger Murphy: try telling the ambulance service cork is less than an hour away. Ya be an hour getting through the villages alone
@Ciarán Ó Duifinn: huge potential for Waterford Airport to be a massive success & boost investment in the whole South-East region.
It’s great to see it take this small but significant step towards development.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: No need for Farranfore? Where is the line that it is measured by? By your logic there is no need for Cork Airport as its a few hours from Dublin anyway. No need for all these airports you say, I take it you don’t need to travel for work much because I do and I can tell you, we need more air travel options. Had to drive 5 hours to a Belfast last week as there was no reasonable alternative. Just because you don’t need them, doesn’t mean everyone else doesn’t.
@Ciarán Ó Duifinn: Lets be realistic, you’ll still have to do that travel in order to fly to holiday destinations. How many destinations do you actually think you will get to fly to from Waterford?!?! Its not profitable for airlines to put on loads of routes to an airport that serves such a small population. Even Cork airport doesn’t have a lot of routes. Its a simple thing call supply and demand. Because flights are cheap, airlines need the planes to be nearly full, and thats not going to happen out of Waterford regularly on the vast majority of potential routes with a 737 or a a320. Every region might want an airport, that doesn’t mean that an airport will be successful in that region. A Ryanair flight to Stansted once every other day wont answer all your prayers
@Paul Hedderman: do you think when they built Knock or Farranfore that they thought they were gonna get big routes straight away? You’re off your rocker if you think that. From little oaks….. Also, it was also mentioned that the south east needs investment. In order to get investment you need an airport. This may well only be the start.
Biggest waste of tax payers money since they built a library in Drogheda!
@Radioska: why was a library in Drogheda a waste of money?
@Luke: cause nobody can read in drogheda
@Luke: They’re all illiterate in Drogheda, presumably. The hilarity.
Brilliant news. Half an hour from Waterford so would be great to be able to utilize when needing to fly. Let’s hope the funding is secured for it into the future!
Great news
I was only thinking of this development this week. It had gone quiet for a while. Mad stuff altogether! Hopefully those involved are successful in the venture. It would be a great asset to the south east.
There’s an airport in Waterford? Seriously???
@Graham Manning: Yeah, seriously! Because I heard that there are people living around there, though I haven’t been brave enough to venture past the M50 yet.
@Graham Manning: not really, hasn’t been any flights there in years, and they were only small puddle jumpers before that.
@Reuben Gray: eh at one stage you could fly to France Spain and Portugal from Waterford
Amazing what happens when you got a great cycling Greenway in your county, tourism in the region must be on the up or this funding wouldn’t have been approved, love visiting Waterford myself.
Brilliant news abs I wish it all the success
€12m for a strip of tarmac??? Seriously?? A lad called to my door yesterday who is in the tarmac business and would do it for a million, cash
Fantastic news for the entire South-East region.
The government needs to back the airports growth now & show they are serious about regional development.
Regular flights into & out of Waterford airport will take pressure off Dublin where capacity is being stretched.
There’s no reason why people in Wicklow & Kildare & Carlow can’t use Waterford instead of Dublin as well as people in Tipp/Waterford/Kk & WX.
Great news for the SE. Nothing flying out of Cork now.
@Appaddy: For your information 24 flights out of Cork today to destinations such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, Tennerife, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and Luton, as the saying goes @Appaddy you learn something new every day.
Waterford has an airport? Deadly..
Imagine only €12milliom for a regional capital expenditure like an airport and you have to ask businesses in the area would they stump up a few quid because we’re only giving ye €5 million, if ye get planning..
That’s to triple the width of and almost double the length of your only runway, should have been already done really, at that cost.
The South East University next, no bull sh it excuses.
Waterford needs to be putting more people in the Dáil and turning them into ministers, the lack of Dáil representation has hampered the people and area in many ways for a while now.
Great stuff.
Didnt know they had an airport.
Great news for Waterford and the South East.
Did ye know there’s a runway down in Bantry? Cool huh
@Nicholas O’Halloran: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland
Excellent, another place to be directly targeted with an atomic weapon “when” world war three breaks out….;)
O I don’t thinks so who run the airport
A white elephant. There are enough airports in the country. This is a small island. Each passenger will have to be subsidised. Waterford is not that far from Cork and Dublin airports. These endless subsidies could fund a far more reliable bus and train service. Increase the frequency on the Waterford to Dublin line would be good. Put far more money into rural bus services connecting everyone to towns and long distance bus and rail stations. The only people using this airport will be Public Servants of expenses and the odd business type. But air is sexy, rail gets romantic and the bus service is boring.
Are the parking spots big enough to take a Horsebox?
@Joe Kelly: huh?
have your say