Ryanair is interested in establishing a new route between Waterford and London once a long-awaited modernisation of Waterford Airport is finished.
It was announced last week that a €30m privately-funded investment plan for Waterford Airport has been approved by Waterford City and County Council; paving the way for the long-awaited modernisation of the regional airport without the need for public money being spent by Government.
It is envisaged that the money would go on a new terminal building, expanded car parking facilities and – crucially – a bigger runway with the ability to bring commercial back to Waterford, by as early as late 2027.
Speaking to RTÉ News, Ryanair group chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said the airline is likely to run a Waterford to London route, but that it probably would not be a daily service.
Mr O’Leary told RTÉ: “It is likely, I would think, we might put in a London flight. I think maybe you’d start off maybe two or three flights a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We’ve said this to them in writing before. If you build a jet runway, we’ll certainly look at maybe linking into London, two or three times a week, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
However, Mr O’Leary said it would be “highly unlikely” that Ryanair would operate a daily service from Waterford.
“I could be surprised, and I could be wrong, and maybe it might sustain a daily flight. I can’t see us ever basing an aircraft in Waterford.”
He also said the idea that Waterford Airport could handle 400,000 passengers a year is unrealistic because of its proximity to both Dublin and Cork Airports.
“Ultimately, Waterford is not a commercial proposition, and that’s because there’s nothing wrong with Waterford, it’s just on the wrong side of the city and it’s in the catchment area of Cork and Dublin. Ultimately, the challenge is we have too many airports in this country and the bigger ones cannibalise the smaller ones,” Mr O’Leary said.
