Ryanair has called on Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to raise the funding cap for regional airports from 1m to 2m passengers per year to allow for increased funding and growth.
The current Regional Airports Programme limits funding to airports with fewer than 1m passengers, hindering tourism, job creation, and economic growth in Ireland’s regional airports.
Ryanair says that, despite claims that the programme aligns with Ireland’s National Aviation Policy, it actually contradicts the policy by restricting growth at regional airports.
Ryanair presented a plan to increase Irish traffic and tourism by 50pc over 6 years, but the Minister has not responded and continues to block growth by maintaining passenger caps at regional airports and Dublin Airport.
Ryanair’s Eddie Wilson said: “It is astounding that Ireland’s Minister for Transport not only continues to preside over the 32m passenger cap fiasco at Dublin Airport, but is now effectively allowing Ireland’s regional airports to be capped at 1m passengers p.a. by his own Department’s Regional Airport Programme. It makes no sense that regional airports are being penalised for growing tourism and delivering economic benefit to the regions. There is no incentive for regional airports, such as Knock, to grow beyond 1m passengers p.a. when their regions are trying to grow tourism and jobs. Ryanair wants to grow Irish traffic and tourism, and on 7 Mar last, we presented a growth proposal to Transport Minister Ryan, under which Ryanair would invest over $1.6bn in new aircraft for Irish airports, create over 800 Irish jobs, double traffic at Cork, Shannon, and Kerry, and open a base at Knock Airport. However, this much-needed tourism, and economic growth is being restricted by the 1m passenger cap, which if exceeded, would mean regional airports, like Knock, would lose exchequer funding for future expansion. Minister Ryan is not content presiding over the 32m passenger cap fiasco at Dublin Airport but is now capping passengers and blocking growth at regional airports too. Ryanair calls on Transport Minister Ryan to immediately raise the 1m passenger cap on funding for Ireland’s regional airports to at least 2m passengers p.a., as allowed under EU regulation, which would deliver more traffic, tourism, jobs, and economic growth to key regional airports and the surrounding communities.”
“Smaller airports, in particular, are a vital part of tourism and connectivity infrastructure. They require capital-intensive projects such as runways, perimeter fences, and air traffic control. Currently, there is a cap on passenger numbers that limits state funding for regional airports. The EU allows funding for up to 3m passengers, but the Irish government has set it at 1m. This is causing a dysfunction that is limiting the growth and development of airports like Knock Airport in the west of Ireland. The same issue is also present at Dublin Airport and to a lesser extent at Kerry Airport. People are investing in tourism in these areas, but the artificial funding cap is hindering growth. It’s bad news for tourism and connectivity in these regions. The government needs to address this issue and allow these airports to thrive.
Ryanair has over 50 aircraft coming next summer we’ve got 96 separate places we can locate those throughout Europe. We are an Irish company we’re saying this growth is available and you have this response from the government that doesn’t look in terms of investing in infrastructure to actually encourage, you know there’s no point in having the best tourism projects or the best tourism product people can’t get here if the airports will actively say there’s no point, like if you’re in Knock Airport now, you don’t want to grow above 1m passengers because you lose all your funding from the government as a regional airport so they won’t grow beyond that and the same with Kerry.
Now Kerry has some distance to go, but now is the time to be building the infrastructure. If the government is saying we’re not going to actually fund that well then that’s bad news for those people who live in those areas and invest and the same applies as well to Shannon and Cork. Shannon does just over 2m passengers. Cork does approximately 3m passengers. In other European countries they’re classified as regional airports now less. Cork probably needs that funding less so but if you look at those smaller airports they’re caught in this in this ceiling now, in the same type of cap that applies to Dublin Airport where we have no answer to that whatsoever at the moment. That’s going to bite now over the next two to three years as airfares will inevitably rise when you constrain demand.
