Misinformation on Knock Airport should not go unquestioned – O’Mahony

Fine Gael TD for Mayo, John O’Mahony, has criticised the suggestion that the State should end subsidies to Knock airport. Deputy O’Mahony was responding to a recent Irish Times article, which quoted the Director of the National Centre for Tourism Policy Studies, Professor Jim Deegan, as saying that the State should end subsidies to regional airports including Ireland West Airport Knock, amongst others.

“A recent Irish Times article on airport subsidies singles out Knock as one of the loss making airports that should no longer receive State subsidies. The misinformation here is of great concern to me as it is damaging to both Knock Airport and the region it serves. It should be noted that these arguments are made in a paper prepared by Professor Deegan for Shannon Airport Marketing Consultative Committee. While they have a right to promote Shannon, and I applaud the success of Shannon Airport in recent years, any such success should not come about at the detriment of other airports.

“Any comparison of our airports should be fair and reasonable. The article singles out certain small airports, but in reality, any discussion on loss making airports should also include Shannon and Cork airports. We also need to get a bit of perspective here. In 2012 Shannon had annual losses of circa €8 million whilst in the same year Cork Airport showed losses of circa €10-12 million. By comparison, in 2013 Knock Airport reported losses of €500,000 in 2013.

“The Irish Times alleges that €2.2 million of the €5.7 million in State airport subsidies went towards covering losses at Kerry, Knock and Waterford. It is important to note that of this figure, Knock Airport received core operational support of approximately €500,000 which equates to just 22% of total operational support claimed by regional airports. Knock had a throughput of 665,000 passengers in 2013 which is more than the other three regional airports of Kerry, Waterford, Donegal combined.

“University of Limerick economist and Director of the National Centre for Tourism Policy Studies Jim Deegan argues that improvements in our road network have removed the justification for continuing to subsidise Knock airport. This is a moot point as we have seen significant reductions in travel times between Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway thanks to improvements to major road infrastructure across the country, so the larger airports have also benefited.

“To say that Shannon should be designated as the official airport for the Wild Atlantic Way is an attempt to distort competition in this area. It ignores the fact that Knock is the most westerly airport in Ireland and thus is crucial to the success of the Wild Atlantic Way, the cornerstone of Irish tourism this year. Furthermore Knock is the only Western seaboard airport to have direct access from key markets in Germany, Holland and Italy, thus positioning it as a convenient and ideal location for overseas visitors to access the Wild Atlantic Way.

“Mr Deegan also says that low-cost airlines operate on the basis of large numbers of people travelling and that subsidising regional airports discourages this. Knock has actually grown its passenger numbers by over 168% in the last ten years and is expected to have its busiest ever year in 2014 with numbers reaching €700,000 for the first time. From a regional economic development perspective, the airport is providing an invaluable service for the people of the West, North West and Midlands regions of Ireland, serving 28 international destinations with four of Europe’s biggest airlines and generating a spend of over €110m annually to the regions it serves.”