Waterford Airport.

It's a Helicopter. It doesn't need a runway!

Wrong and shows how little you know about aviation, the coast guard heli's require a runway for safe acceleration and de-acceleration.

They also require the navigational aids in poor weather.

Outside of this they also require Air Traffic Control, aviation fire crews which are all present at airport's.

Moving R117 to a non airport base would require the construction of helipad/apron, taxiway, runway, navigational aids, apron/taxiway/runway lightning including approach lightning ATC, coast guard base, fire crew base.

You could move it to cork alright, but it's current position is ideal in Waterford due to the high level of boating activity off the Waterford and Wexford coast

Cork Airport has very frequently significant fog problems

Then it would be useless for the south east and east coast which is where it actually serves. Including inland waterways. Imagine waiting for a helicopter from cork if you’re drowning in the river Barrow in Carlow. Might as well be dead already

They could and that notion has been floated around before, all they would require is a new hanger to be built to accommodate coast guard services.

That said you are then moving the service away from a very busy shipping channel off the south east coast, coast guard services have worked very well in Waterford for a number of decades so why change what isn't broke unless for political reasons.

Sligo airport lost commerical airline services prior to Waterford and are still operating with coast guard R118, the same could be said as that could be relocated to Knock but then you are exposing the whole North East area.

These bases were originally picked on good solid merit so why move them?

I agree there has to be more too it than just the airport, they are some oil fields off the south and south east coast, they were once to difficult and costly to drill for oil, but with advancements in technology it could be a case we see off shore oil drilling, that could tie into a lot of other businesses, such as flying workers in and out of the rigs, accommodation near the airport etc.

Then is it a case they see Waterford expanding, invest in the airport, while also buying up land in and around Waterford, in time this land sky rockets and they make a fortune from it.

Do they see Waterford airport as the ideal location to transport racing horses from the various studs not to far from Waterford, surely big money in that. Coupled with proximity to rosslare for cargo etc

Is it a case they know Willie bolster well, he gets them to invest in the airport and he gives them something in return.

All 100% mad notions running around in my head as I'm skeptical of this as the two lads must have another angle than just the airport as in my view there isn't a whioe lot or return in regional airports.

I can see 100% why Waterford can work but two lads from Galway investing 20mill into Waterford airport, for me there had to be more to it.

People are a bit confused by this because airports in Ireland apart from Dublin, aren't really conventional profit making enterprises. They rely on Government funding to prop them up.

Waterford hasn't attracted investment interest like this before, not because of a grand conspiracy, but in light of the fact that it seems to be very hard to get a return on investment.

Optimistic about the Comers apparent interest. The population is growing and Ireland will be a more attractive holiday destination in the years ahead to escape brutal conditions in continental Europe and parts of the UK.

Can't see how the lads will do anything other than lose money on the venture however.

Again, as pointed out, regional airports are not profit making and most likely never will be. I saw a report saying they're looking at an airport operation of an average of three departures a day over the course of a year, which would probably translate to something like two flights a day in winter and four flights a day in summer. So basically a service to one of the low cost London airports, probably Manchester or Liverpool and a couple of flights a week to Faro or Alicante in the summer season. That kind of skeleton service is not going to be remotely profitable for them and no doubt government will be left to pick up the tab with funding to keep the place going if that's the plan.

The big question though is what's in it for them out of this? My guess is a significant land deal as that's the only way they can make money here - their investment in the airport may well be used to justify other development or rezoning in the area.

I think it’s a shame the airport is not back running with just turboprops as it had been doing. It would make the business case for and after the runway extension better rather than starting from scratch then. Did they give up after VLM left?

Waterford is also pretty dreadful for one-off housing. Nowhere in Ireland is immune from this blight.

There was really nobody else that would be interested in operating in 2016. Stobart had decided to leave, Flybe had decided to leave, VLM restructured. All have since gone under.

Loganair and Eastern had no substantial ops in airports that would make sense (a London area airport, Birmingham, Manchester being the most likely to work) at the time, meaning any route would need to stand entirely on its own, carrying the full costs of both stations.

More recently, Loganair might have been interested if some route support could be found - but I suspect the focus has been on getting the runway done. The reality is that, if the extension is done and jet airlines get interested, UK routes could still end up being turboprop with some sun destinations on jet

If you think Waterford is as bad as Galway I suggest you take a drive on the street from Galway city to Spiddal. And I mean street, not road. That’ll be the much sung about Galway Bay on your left. If only you could see it past the houses.

Never said it was as bad. I said it was bad, which it is in comparison to what you find in most other countries.

...maybe they ll be given grants to help insulate from sound, similar to dublin, and happy days.....

I don't know if there's enough info available to determine this but is it known how large a plane could land in Waterford Airport once the runway extension is completed?

When finished it's going to be 2.287km in length and 45m in width.

Can, say, a 747 land comfortably on a runway that long?