Traffic through Waterford Airport doubles

THE number of passengers using Waterford Airport has nearly doubled from 8,757 passengers in July 2006 to 15,600 passengers in July of 2007.

Waterford Airport Company chairman Nicky Fewer revealed that the airport enjoyed its best-ever level of business last month, with the addition of new twice-weekly services from Waterford to Malaga, Faro and Bordeaux providing “the most convenient means of access to the continent for the people of the south-east”.

He said the increase in passenger figures represents “a major leap forward” for Waterford Airport in terms of offering new locations to the people of the south-east.

“Our next major goal will be to grow the number of people from the continent and the UK flying into Waterford for holidays, family visits and business,” said Mr Fewer.

“There is enormous potential to grow the number of inward-bound tourists to the south-east region and we are prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities which this market presents, in co-operation with tourism and business interest in the region.”

The latest figures indicate that new Slattery Sun routes to Faro, Bordeaux and Malaga have yielded 2,250 new passengers over the past month, while Aer Arann recorded a total of 13,350 flying from Waterford to and from London Luton, Birmingham, Manchester and L’Orient during the same period.

“Encouraging people in the south-east to ‘think local’ when planning flights has been the ultimate key to this success,” added Mr Fewer.

“A fresh approach adopted earlier in the year has yielded a new website, branding, advertising and a consumer marketing plan which directly addresses people living in Waterford and surrounding counties of Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow and south Tipperary, all in the airport’s catchment area.”

Planning for the airport’s €27.5 million capital development programme, which includes a runway extension to facilitate larger aircraft is progressing well, according to the chairman.

“The improvement in accessing the airport as a result of the opening of the Waterford city outer ring road has also made a big difference to our current business and we are now looking forward to the completion of the last section of the new airport road now that work has begun on the re-alignment of the existing link to the city,” he added.