Media Archive

BMW Regional Assembly Presents

Airports Report to Minister Dempsey

The Border, Midland and Western Regional Assembly presented a report to the Minister of Transport Mr. Noel Dempsey T.D. at a meeting between the Assembly, management of Donegal, Galway, Ireland West Knock and Sligo Airports and the Minister in Trim, Co. Meath on Friday May 23^rd. The report titled ‘Maximising the Economic Impact of Airports in the BMW Region' is the first report of its kind to examine the multi-faceted collective contribution of the airports in the BMW Region to the regional economy.

The report which was prepared in co-operation with the four airports in the Region, highlights their impact and importance in terms of business investment, tourism, access to markets and quality of life for the Region. An economic impact assessment found that these four airports in 2008 were responsible for 378 jobs (direct and indirect), generated over €14m in direct added value to the economy, while inbound visitors spent an estimated €93m in the Region.

The report calls for a more coherent national aviation policy taking due consideration of the role of non-state Airports in policy and investment decisions. The report illustrates the distinctive role played by each individual airport, recommends the preparation of an economic and tourism development plan for each airport and highlights the potential for the development of airport business parks targeted at air-intensive industries.

The value of the daily links to Dublin Airport, supported by the Public Service Obligation (PSO) subsidy, in particular to business customers, is also highlighted.  Dublin Airport is the primary international transport hub for business travellers and direct daily links are of enormous benefit and should be retained. The largest beneficiary of the PSO support is the broad regional economy and not necessarily the airports or regional airlines. The report also illustrates the economic benefits in terms of the value of time saved for business passengers on PSO routes to and from the Region. When all of the benefits are taken into account, the report concludes that the cost to the exchequer of maintaining the PSO subsidy is more than justified.

The report was welcomed by Minister Dempsey as providing a timely input into the Value for Money Review currently being undertaken by the Department of Transport into public expenditure on regional air services, including capital investment and Public Service Obligation (PSO) supported routes. He commended the Regional Assembly for undertaking this important body of research and committed to taking into consideration the arguments put forward by the paper. In particular the Minister agreed to reflect the report's wide-ranging multi-criteria approach to examining the value of airports in his Department's Value for Money Review exercise.

Following the meeting, Mr. Gerry Finn, Director of the BMW Regional Assembly stated that, "this meeting provided an opportunity to highlight to the Minister for Transport a strong body of evidence in favour of the further development of the Airports in the BMW Region. The response from the Minister was very positive to our report and we look forward to working with the Minister, his officials and the respective airports in the Region on this issue".

Mr. Finn concluded, "the findings of the analysis undertaken confirms that continued investment is justified in order to build the competitiveness of the BMW Region in terms of its connectivity to major growth hubs and markets, its attractiveness for inward investment and the capacity of the airports to  bring new business to the Region's tourism industry".

Ends 26.04.10

For further information:

Kieran Moylan, Assistant Director - BMW Regional Assembly                       

T: 094-9862970

www.bmwassembly.ie