€3.4m in Grants Announced for Regional Airports
The Minister of State for Transport, Ms Hildegarde Naughton TD, today announced the payment of €3.4 million in grant aid towards the operating costs of three regional airports – Donegal, Kerry and Ireland West Airport (Knock) – under the Government funded Regional Airports Programme.
The grants are targeted at vital safety and security operations at the airports such as air traffic control, fire services and security, ensuring airports can continue to remain compliant with regulatory requirements in these areas.
Minister of State Naughton said: “I fully recognise the devastating impact that the current crisis has had on our regional airports. This funding will go some way towards helping our regional airports remain financially sustainable as they plan for a time beyond the grip of Covid-19. In addition to today’s funding, I also announced further supports for these airports on 10th November when Government agreed to a revised supports package of €80m for Irish aviation. As part of that announcement, in order to safeguard the viability of these airports, Donegal, Kerry and Knock will be eligible to receive up to €6m in supplementary supports next year to make good the impacts of Covid in 2020”.
Today’s announcement is in addition to almost €2.5 million in capital grants already allocated to these airports in July this year. That funding supported an airfield maintenance and upgrade project at Knock and the installation of Explosive Detection Systems (EDS) units at Kerry and Donegal.
Commenting on the development of a new Regional Airports Programme, the Minister said: “In keeping with this Government’s priorities for regional development, I expect to publish a new Regional Airports Programme for 2021 – 2025 in the coming weeks. This will give funding certainty to the regional airports over a five-year timeframe, helping them to remain viable as they transition through the various phases of recovery from Covid.”
The operational grants announced for each of the airports are as follows:
| Airport | Grant Allocation (€) |
| Donegal | 580,617 |
| IWAK | 1,353,859 |
| Kerry | 1,499,564 |
About the Author
Mark Dwyer Mark is an airline pilot flying the Boeing 737 for a major European airline. In addition he is also a Type Rating Instructor, Type Rating Examiner and Base Training Captain on the B737. Outside of commercial flying Mark enjoys flying light aircraft from the smallest 3 Axis microlights up to heavier singles. He is also an instructor and EASA Examiner on single engines and a UK CAA Examiner. He flies the Chipmunk for the Irish Historic Flight Foundation (IHFF). Mark became the Chairman of the National Microlight Association of Ireland (NMAI) in 2013 and has overseen a massive growth in the organisation. In this role he has worked at local and national levels. In 2015, Mark won ‘Upcoming Aviation Professional Award’ at the Aviation Industry Awards sponsored by the IAA. Mark launched this website back in 2002 while always managing the website, he has also been Editor and Deputy Editor of FlyingInIreland Magazine from 2005 to 2015.
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