Donegal remains a vital cog in Ireland West Airport future plans, says Managing Director Joe Gilmore

It quickly becomes apparent when you speak with Joe Gilmore, Managing Director of Ireland West Airport, why it had been on an upward trajectory, since he took over the important role in 2009.

And yes, it was dealt a near catastrophic blow when airports throughout the world and the wider aviation industry came to a complete standstill in March of 2020 as a result of Covid-19 and from which they are still very tentatively recovering.

IRELAND WEST AIRPORT

But that story is only part of a wider narrative which paints a glowing success story for an airport that decades previously had faced near insurmountable odds, in the infancy of its existence.   

When I first broached the subject of challenges of the last two years, it was not routes or runways, subventions or stress that he wanted to speak of, but rather the devastation of having to let staff go, during those dark days, when none of us knew what lay ahead.

It had only been 2019 and the airport had recorded a passenger count of 800,000 plus and a turnover of some €15million. 

In the normal course of events, that figure would have shot through the one million passengers figure, but it was to be, at that time.

Last month, it was revealed that last year's passenger numbers had plummeted by 79% and that passenger numbers stood at 175,000 last year.

But 2022 has brought a new air of optimism and hope, as many of the clouds of Covid have lifted.

The Managing Director told this week's edition of the Donegal Democrat:

“If you go back to February 2020, before all of this kicked off we had just come off a record year in 2019.We had turned over about €15million and we had just over 800,000 passengers, making a small profit of about €100,000. 

“So we were starting to get into a good situation. Our objective here was to get to a million passengers by this year to be honest.”      

Reflecting on the closure of the airport that is located at Knock, he admitted it was a massive shock to everybody.

“I never thought that I would be closing the airport for a global pandemic. Previous to that I had closed the airport for one or two days, for the snow and the ice back in 2010, I think it was and then when the volcanic ash from Iceland was a major concern. 

“The other reality was that we had to lay off staff. That was the toughest part and we laid off 90% of our staff. 

“While at the time, we expected it to be short term, in reality there were some staff laid off for nearly two years. It was a complete devastation for the aviation sector across the country and the globe. 

IRELAND WEST AIRPORT WILL BE A KEY TRANSPORT STRUCTURE FOR THE NORTH WEST INTO THE FUTURE

“To be realistic about it, travel went from something that was attractive and exciting, that was criminalised in the space of six to twelve months. I know people that were fined €2,000 for taking a trip. 

“That was just the reality of what had to be done at the time. It was a massive shock and the tourism, travel and hospitality sectors all got hammered.”

Joe said that the passenger numbers fell to what they had been experiencing in the 1980s and 1990s, but it would have been much worse had it not been for government interventions. 

Government support was vital

“It’s important to acknowledge that the government’s intervention for the aviation sector and 

the general wage supports that were put in place for this airport. 

“Like a lot of businesses we would have been in a critical position at this time, so we received funding under the EWSS scheme, the wage support schemes and under a Covid damages scheme for the aviation sector, so that helped to alleviate most of our losses last year. 

“We lost over €4million last year and through those schemes we were nearly able to compensate for 80-90% of those losses.

DONEGAL PASSENGERS WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY A KEY ROLE FOR THE AIRPORT INTO THE FUTURE

“That has allowed us now in 2022 to be in a position where we have a balance sheet with some cash in the bank, to be able to restart the business, to invest in places like marketing, group development and other things to get back to the roots,” he explained.

Donegal a vital cog in the wheel

Referencing the connectivity with Donegal, he said that it was an important part of the Ireland West airport story.

Pre pandemic between 15% and 20% of their customers came from Donegal and typically 10-15% of inbound visitors from overseas came to Donegal.

“Donegal formed part of the seven local authorities shareholder group back here in 2015 when they jointly took a decision, based on the contribution that the airport was making to each county in terms of economic wellbeing and particularly tourism.

“While Donegal would be smaller on the shareholder group, they recognise at council level that the airport plays a critical role for air access into the region. When you look at access, we are a jet capable runway,” he explained.

RYANAIR HAS SHOWN ITS CONFIDENCE IN IRELAND WEST AIRPORT 

He added: “About 40,000 Donegal people use our airport services to travel through the airport to the UK and European markets and other destinations.

“And likewise the road connectivity with the likes of other airports in the country, particularly Dublin, isn’t up to standard, so we have a critical role to play going forward.”   

“We would like to see further investment on the road network in particular, and from a Donegal perspective, from Knock to Sligo in particular. 

“I know there are plans to upgrade the N17 but we’d certainly like to see that project expedited, so we could open up the airport further to Donegal people.”  

“One of the biggest challenges at a regional level is getting national attention and focus on pieces of infrastructure like this and we were happy that back in 2017 with the launch of the National Development Plan, that government recognised the airport as a key transport infrastructure for the region. And that it was one of the State’s four main airports for economic and tourism development along the Wild Atlantic Way and the Atlantic economic corridor.” 

“We have gone through a crazy period and it is great to be able to start getting back to these projects back on the table and investment streams.”

The airport MD explained that the busiest routes are to the UK market, with ten destinations to the UK. That market has rebounded very strongly in the last month, since the restrictions were lifted and extra capacity is being put in there.

THAT HAPPY FEELING WHEN YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ARRIVED HOME

“We had Flybe doing Birmingham Edinburgh and Manchester, back in 2019/2020 but they went out of business, so Ryanair have stepped in and taken over those three services, so we are seeing a big rebound in the UK with the busiest routes, our London routes with almost half the passengers that go through out airport, go to London. 

“Aer Lingus will also be back in on March 13 with daily flights to destinations for the rest of the summer and this is a very good marker for the future.”

He explained:

“Both Ryanair and Aer Lingus are two of the strongest airlines in Europe, so that is a major vote of confidence in the west of Ireland and what they see as the potential future development here at the airport,

“So we are either fortunate or hopefully doing something right, that they see there is longer term viability for business here.  

Value for money and essential for future development 

Regarding the €10 development charge which is sometimes talked about, this in essence revolves around Ireland West Airport not being state owned unlike Dublin and Cork.

“This means we don't get 100% subvention for our operating costs and we have to wash our face practically every year from an operational cost point of view and so the €10 charge was put in and covers about 40% of our annual operating costs.”

When everything is considered for passengers and in terms of the success of the airport, Joe believes it is a good thing, on many levels, for the airport and “the overall package we offer in terms of convenience, the route network that is provided and in the cost comparisons of having to get your car and reveal to other airports across the country.”  

The airport’s Managing Director says that the airport is at an early stage of recovery and that is what the priority will be in the interim period. 

AER LINGUS THROUGH AEG AND RYANAIR ARE TWO OF THE BIGGEST CARRIERS IN EUROPE

Finally, for many people in Donegal, he points out how travel to the Ireland West airport at Knock can work out better on many different levels than either Dublin or Belfast. 

He added that while restrictions were lifting, things about EU Covid digital certs and what happens in the landing country remained important, when arriving at foreign destinations and passengers should brief themselves fully on compliance issues, but the clouds were lifting on that as well. 

It is clear that Ireland West airport will become an even more important infrastructure for business and travel in the years ahead.