Approaches made to purchase Galway Airport site

Approaches have been made to Galway City and County Councils to purchase the 115-acre Galway Airport site for “well in excess” of its €1.1 million purchase price.

Consultants charged with preparing a feasibility study on the future of the site are set to meet with the City Council Chief Executive in the New Year.

And the use of the facility again as a commercial airport is increasingly unlikely – an application to have a higher category aviation licence granted has been refused unless a whole host of requirements are met.

Brendan McGrath told city councillors at a meeting this week that he was due to meet with Future Analytics Consulting last week, but the firm cancelled, and the meeting will have to be rearranged for the New Year.

Mr McGrath said the Councils purchased the site for €1.1m and already had offers to buy it for well in excess of that figure.

He explained that when Galway Airport was in use, it had the highest category of aviation licence available, and now Galway Flying Club has ‘the lowest’, as per their requirements.

He said that when the City and County Councils purchased the airport in 2013, all of the communications equipment was owned by a third party and sold.

Any equipment remaining is “old, out of date and no longer fit for purpose of the higher aviation licence”.

He added that in the short to medium-term, the feasibility report found “no great opportunities for return to aviation”.

For more on the Galway Airport story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune