{"id":292125,"date":"2026-02-11T09:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T09:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/292125\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T09:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T09:24:12","slug":"ireland-west-airport-still-flying-high-40-years-on-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/292125\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland West Airport still flying high 40 years on – News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forty years ago this May, Knock Airport officially opened in the face of scepticism in some quarters about the viability of such an ambitious venture in a location famously described as a \u201cfoggy, boggy hill\u201d.<\/p>\n

Passenger numbers that year in 1986 were just over 9,000 but since those small beginnings, Ireland West Airport has become an incredible success story for the region.<\/p>\n

Over the last four decades, it has experienced exponential growth and in 2025, it was Ireland\u2019s fastest-growing airport, with passenger numbers reaching 946,381.<\/p>\n

Eighty per cent of that passenger traffic is to and from Britain, routes that built the foundations of the airport\u2019s success at a time when the country was racked by an economic depression and mass emigration.<\/p>\n

The airport now serves 21 international destinations and is served by three of Europe\u2019s major international airlines – Aer Lingus, Lauda Europe, and Ryanair.<\/p>\n

Ryanair has recorded its busiest-ever year for passenger traffic at the airport, with record numbers using its services to Edinburgh, Liverpool, London Luton, Manchester, Faro and Malaga.<\/p>\n

\"FromFrom small beginnings, Ireland West Airport has become an incredible success story.<\/p>\n

The airline is also adding extra capacity on its services to Malaga, Milan, Liverpool and London for 2026.<\/p>\n

Aer Lingus also recorded its busiest-ever year for passenger traffic at the airport, with more than 96,000 passengers using the London Heathrow service in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s face it, this airport had a challenge from day one; being elevated from a small airport on the top of a hillside in the West of Ireland that no-one really knew about,\u201d remarked airport CEO, Joe Gilmore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve gone a good way to being regarded as one of the four main international airports now with Dublin, Shannon, and Cork – and justifying the investment that the State and Government has put into the airport by providing genuine returns in terms of tourism, connectivity and job creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the airport celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and with all the data pointing to continued growth on all its services, the late Monsignor Horan\u2019s vision of a strong regional airport for the West of Ireland has been well and truly vindicated.<\/p>\n

Positive Impact ForRoscommon<\/p>\n

The continued growth clearly highlights \u201cthat people want to use the airport and will use the airport if we have the services and capacity available for them\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still many people across the region here that won\u2019t fly from anywhere else,\u201d noted the CEO.<\/p>\n

Convenience and accessibility continue to be key selling points, borne out by research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are finding is that people won\u2019t go to the West of Ireland unless they can fly in directly. They don\u2019t have to go through Dublin and deal with all the additional logistics that comes with that,\u201d said Mr Gilmore.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that Ireland West is also proving to be very convenient for Roscommon people along with providing clear economic spin-offs for the county. Almost 50,000 outbound passengers from the county used the airport last year with more than 25,000 overseas visitors using the airport as a gateway to visit Roscommon.<\/p>\n

RedC research in 2025 highlighted that visitors to the county spent an average of six nights there, a figure which was up from an average of four nights in the same report in 2023.<\/p>\n

Twenty one percent of those overseas visitors who visited Roscommon last year did so for holiday purposes with Lough Key Forest Park and Strokestown Park cited among the main attractions.<\/p>\n

\"InIn 2025, passenger numbers reached 946,381, making it Ireland’s fastest-growing airport.<\/p>\n

County Roscommon is now the fourth biggest market from an outbound passenger perspective behind Mayo, Galway and Sligo.<\/p>\n

Mr Gilmore also points out that given the airport\u2019s location, a lot of Roscommon people work there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had 200 people employed here in 2025 with additional staff of about 60. When it comes to people working here, it\u2019s pretty much all local people who live in close proximity, with a sizable number from Roscommon. The airport has become a significant employer in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there\u2019s the downstream effect with another estimated 3,000 people indirectly employed. We\u2019re also continually spending money with contractors on site all the time,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Mr Gilmore is keen to pay tribute to all the staff who continue to ensure the successful operation of the airport, which is a complex enterprise in itself.<\/p>\n

Notably, there is plenty of Roscommon influence when it comes to making key decisions. Ballymore CEO and Oran native Sean Mulryan is on the airport board as is Roscommon County Council CEO Shane Tiernan.<\/p>\n

Mr Tiernan is fulfilling a remit as part of seven local authorities who invested \u20ac7m in the airport about a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Ryanair and Aer Lingus<\/p>\n

Ryanair and Aer Lingus continue to provide an important backbone to the airport\u2019s business and it\u2019s interesting that both the airport and Ryanair are two huge success stories that started around the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Michael O\u2019Leary said on the 30th year anniversary, Ryanair has been a major part of ourairport\u2019s success but we also have been a major part of Ryanair\u2019s success particularly in the early years. We were one of the first airports after Waterford that Ryanair first flew out of,\u201d Mr Gilmore recalled.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hoped that Michael O\u2019Leary will be a keynote speaker for the anniversary gala event in May that will mark the airport\u2019s 40th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Development andInvestment<\/p>\n

With the support of the Department of Transport, almost \u20ac8m was invested in safety, security, and infrastructure projects at the airport in 2025.<\/p>\n

Key projects included the construction of a new sheltered passenger walkway and the start of construction on a new 1.5MW PV solar farm.<\/p>\n

The solar farm, due to be commissioned later this year, will cover up to 50% of the airport\u2019s power requirements at peak demand.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe airport now serves 21 international destinations and is served by three of Europe\u2019s major international airlines, Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Lauda Europe.<\/p>\n

Significant money is also being spent on climate adaptation and mitigation measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are part of what\u2019s called an ACA (Airport Carbon Accreditation) programme. It\u2019s a six level programme and we\u2019re halfway through the process at level three. We have sustainability targets to try and hit in terms of net zero and we\u2019re currently taking a variety of actions to reduce the carbon footprint of the airport itself,\u201d explained the airport CEO.<\/p>\n

Other notable projects include the development of a new fire training centre for the airport\u2019s fire training staff and a new substation to provide additional power supply into the airport. As Mr Gilmore outlined, the latter will provide \u201cmore robustness in terms of potential weather events.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are broader plans to spend another \u20ac35m over the next five years to encompass a range of developments such as an upgrade to the terminal facilities and additional car parking capacity.<\/p>\n

SDZ Landbank<\/p>\n

The first original objective of the Airport Trust was international access for the region and the second job creation for the region.<\/p>\n

This latter objective involves a signature plan to develop a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) into a major business campus.<\/p>\n

Modelled on the concept of the industrial expansion that took place around Shannon Airport during the 1960s and 1970s, it is a plan that potentially could create up to 6,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

The Government agreed to fund the appointment of a new project manager to lead this ambitious venture and in late 2024, Ballinlough native Dominic Healy was appointed.<\/p>\n

Mr Healy is currently working on updating the development plan for the SDZ.<\/p>\n

Mr Gilmore pointed out that the SDZ roadmap will be presented to Government later this year. Currently, there are 30 development sites within this SDZ, which require initial enabling infrastructure such as wastewater and power.<\/p>\n

Acknowledgements<\/p>\n

The airport CEO acknowledged the continued support of successive Governments, ministers and politicians who ensure that regional airports such as Knock receive critical funding.<\/p>\n

He and his team are looking forward to continuing to work with Government representatives to further develop and grow the airport from 2026 onwards.<\/p>\n

A key funding channel to achieve that is provided under the State\u2019s Regional Airports\u2019 Programme, and a new programme, running to 2030, is expected to published shortly by the Department of Transport.<\/p>\n

On Mr Gilmore\u2019s list of wider acknowledgments is the people of the West and beyond who continue to place their trust in the airport\u2019s services.<\/p>\n

He was also proud to say that, due to generous public support, Ireland West\u2019s annual charity initiative has become a huge success, raising well over \u20ac800,000 for local charities over the last eight years or so.<\/p>\n

\"CEOCEO of Ireland West, Joe Gilmore, acknowledges the continued support of successive Governments, ministers and politicians who ensure that regional airports such as Knock receive critical funding.<\/p>\n

In December, the airport was delighted to present a cheque for a record \u20ac54,000 to the airport\u2019s six staff-nominated charities for 2025, which includes Mayo Roscommon Hospice.<\/p>\n

At the helm for the last 17 years, Mr Gilmore has been part of a core management team which has guided the remarkable success of the airport.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, he harbours lots of fond memories over this time, especially those involving some of the landmarks events such as the Pope\u2019s visit in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the fulfilment of Monsignor Horan\u2019s dream that when the next Pope came to Ireland after the 1979 visit that he would fly directly into the airport beside the Shrine.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also points to Joe Biden\u2019s visit as US President in 2023 as another memorable occasion with Airforce 1 flying into the West of Ireland and touching down on the Knock tarmac.<\/p>\n

For staff, passengers and their families, many more great memories are set to be made at a place which, over the last 40 years, has undoubtedly become one of the jewels in the West of Ireland\u2019s crown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forty years ago this May, Knock Airport officially opened in the face of scepticism in some quarters about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-292125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}