Waterford Regional Airport faces immediate closure unless the Government reverses a decision not to provide it with additional funds.
A special meeting of the airport's board today will confirm closure in the absence of a last-minute intervention, according to the board's chairman, Dr Cormac Macnamara.
Closure would take place "pretty well immediately" and would be impossible to reverse, he told The Irish Times. The airport says it needs £500,000 this year but has received a conditional allocation of only £165,000 from the Department of Public Enterprise. This, says the Department, is more than other airports get.
The decision to close will be greeted with dismay in the south-east as the airport is considered vital to the development of the region. It has a full-time staff of 18 and is responsible for a similar number of indirect jobs.
Its future had seemed secure in January when a daily service to Luton was launched by Euroceltic, to replace the service withdrawn by British Regional Express before Christmas.
Dr Macnamara said the new service was a success and the airport's long-term future looked bright, but it needed increased financial support because of several recent setbacks.
The airport's navigational system had been hit by lightning and this took four to six weeks to repair. That and the withdrawal of British Regional Express resulted in the loss of two trading months. The airport was also affected by the loss of duty-free status for flights to Britain and, more recently, the foot-and-mouth crisis.
"We are telling people not to come from Britain and at the same time we are trying to launch a new service," Dr Macnamara said. "In fact the new carrier has managed 50 per cent occupancy and is very pleased with the results to date. The irony is that this is happening just when we seemed to have solved our problems."
In response to questions in the Dail on Wednesday from Waterford deputies Mr Brian O'Shea and Mr Austin Deasy, the Minister of State for Public Enterprise, Mr Joe Jacob, said it would be "disappointing" if the airport was to close.
He said the £165,000 which the Department was prepared to allocate this year was substantially more, based on passenger throughput, than the amount given to other regional airports, such as Sligo and Donegal.
"The level of financial assistance which Waterford Airport has indicated it needs to remain in operation is out of all proportion to what is available from the Department of Public Enterprise for the other regional airports," Mr Jacob said. Passenger numbers had continued to fall at the airport in spite of increased Government support, he said
Dr Macnamara said the £165,000 was conditional on funds being raised locally. This could be achieved if the Government's figure was closer to the £500,000 required, but at present the gap was too wide. Efforts were continuing yesterday to secure funding from other Government Departments and agencies.
