Ireland West Airport Knock
An airport for growth and jobs
Corporate background
• The Airport is owned by a Trust signed in 1991 by the
Minister for Transport and the Airport Trustees on behalf of
the people in the West
• The Trust delegated the running of the Airport to
Connaught Airport Development Company Ltd (CADCO)
• An Airport to stimulate enterprise and jobs
• Any dividends or profits must be re-invested in the
company (CADCO) and therefore there are no private
shareholders.
355 hectare Site
2,300m Runway
7,080m2 Terminal building
6,000 mile range
CAT II ILS low visibility landing system
Passenger Growth: 1986 - 2012
2012 was the busiest year in the airport’s history!
800,000
5% growth to 685,000 passengers
700,000
28 Destinations
685,000
Passengers
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
0
86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
Year
Performance and efficiency
• A lean, low cost airport with small management
•
•
•
•
Flights with no operational delays
Staff multi-tasking
Turnover
Government subvention in 2012
– i.e. 4% of turnover
99%
66%
€13.6m
€0.58m
Origin of passengers using
Airport in 2012
40%
35%
30%
25%
2010 Survey
2011 Survey
20%
2013 Survey
15%
10%
5%
0%
Donegal Longford
Other
Mayo
Galway
Roscom
Sligo
Leitrim
2010 Survey
31%
16%
16%
21%
5%
4%
2%
4%
2011 Survey
37%
21%
10%
13%
4%
3%
2%
6%
2013 Survey
31%
22%
13%
13%
5%
5%
3%
9%
Source: Passenger surveys 2010 - 2012
Good spread of counties visited by
tourists from Europe in 2012
Base = 520 responses
60%
52%
50%
42%
40%
30%
30%
2012 Survey
21%
18%
20%
14%
10%
1%
1%
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Regional Economic Return
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Direct employment
Jobs supported in wider region
Number of tourism bed nights
Regional tourism spend
Employee tax/PRSI pd to Exchequer
Annual contribution to GVA
Regional jobs impacted by airport
150
900
900,000
€111m
€1m
€17m
6,200
The Social Dividend
New Route Development-UK
New Route Development-Europe
New Route Development-Germany
Proposals to Government in
2011/2012
•
•
•
•
•
Grow passenger numbers to
1.25m
Double tourism spend to
€240m
Support a total number of jobs
1,900
Increase Government tax revenues to €45m
Attract new enterprise park jobs
500
Cost of investment over 5 years
€75m
Joint strategic planning requested by airport
for financing growth and jobs targets
Minister urges change of
Gov. policy to curtail Knock
“If nothing was done for Shannon the airport
stood in danger of being passed out by Knock
airport in passenger numbers, despite a
current gap of over 900,000 passengers …I
think if the trends continue as they are it will
happen because Shannon’s numbers are
already down 20 per cent this year and Knock
is still growing. It is only a matter of time
without a change in policy.” Irish Times 31 March 2012
st
Government Response
• Ireland West Airport Knock is a ‘private owned
entity’
• No revenue support for the airport post 2014
• Refusal to engage in a joint plan
• Fear that Ireland West Airport Knock will
overtake Shannon Airport in terms of
passenger numbers
• Acceleration of efforts to finance Shannon
Airport
Gov. Investment in Shannon
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Investment package totalling
€300m
Debt financing
€100m+
Transfer of annual rental income to airport
€12m
Transfer of assets worth
€90m
Provision of cash flow in January 2013
€6.7m
Freeing up of pension liabilities & the sale of other assets
Indication of more incentives which other airports “can apply
for” but which Shannon Airport is able to use immediately
• “Shannon is in the best place to avail of any tax breaks, even if
they do apply to other airports.” Minister Varadkar 3rd Jan. 2013
Our position on Government’s
decisions on Shannon
• We are supportive of Shannon Airport and its
region as part of the West of Ireland
• Have a history of working in co-operation with
Shannon
• However both airports compete in the same
markets
• Government decision is unfair, anticompetitive, possibly illegal and damaging
Ireland West Airport Knock
Market distortion
• Government ignored its own advisors Booz
and Co who evaluated the prospects for Cork
and Shannon airports in 2012.
• Government was warned not to proceed with
a support package for Shannon Airport
without clear consideration of the competitive
implications for other airports.
Shannon/Knock comparison
prior to Dec 2012 SNN package
Comparison criteria
Shannon
Airport
Ireland West
Knock
Commercial passenger numbers 2012
1.3m
0.685m
Passenger performance in past 5 years
63% fall
20% rise
Government investment in past 10 years
€160m
€15m
Annual net loss levels
c. €8m
€0.6m
Cost per passenger of sustaining these losses €6.10
€0.87
Additional annual subvention of Air
Traffic Control costs
€0
c. €3m
Investment in State airports
compared to Knock
Investment period
State
airports
Ireland Multiple
West
Knock
Capital investment
2003 - 2012
DAA
€1.6bn
€15m
107
Investment
2012 - 2014
Shannon
€300m
€4.1m
73
Potential risks to IWA Knock
•
•
•
•
•
Passenger and tourism losses
300,000
Revenue losses to region up to €240m
Direct threat to jobs
3,500
Damaged ability to attract new jobs 500
Future viability seriously threatened
An Airport for Jobs and Growth
On behalf of the Board of Ireland West Airport Knock, we
thank you for your time and look forward to working with
you into the future for the benefit of the region.