Councils jettison another €100k on airport

It is costing Galway City and County Councils €105,000 to lease Galway Airport to a commercial operator, which is making €10,000 alone in landing fees from private jets.

The Carnmore site, which was leased to Carnmore Aviation until December 15, was jointly purchased by the two local authorities from the Galway Chamber of Commerce when subsidies were withdrawn from Aer Arann to operate commercial flights there.

Oranmore Councillor Jim Cuddy asked what the loan repayments were and how much money the council was getting from leasing the facility at the budget meeting of Galway County Council.

He said 58 private planes had landed there since January and were being charged a landing fee of between €120 and €160 – amounting to nearly €10,000 in income. The facility had also been used by the Air Corps and Irish Coastguard to refuel.

He also queried Galway Flying Club’s contract to use the runway and what progress had been made regarding a proposal to turn the 115-acre site into an international hub for drones testing, which could generate 100 jobs.

“Is it true some of the assets on the site are for sale on Done Deal? That’s absolutely scandalous considering those assets were bought by the taxpayer,” he stated.

Interim Chief Executive Kevin Kelly said a lease agreement was put in place which saw the two councils pay €105,000 per annum to keep the facility open for aviation. At the expiration of the lease, the council was willing to enter a new agreement for 11 months but on the basis the local authorities would break even.

He did not want to replace an airport which had been subsidised by the Government with an aviation facility subsidised by the councils.

“Discussions are ongoing with interested parties. It remains to be seen whether there’s an outcome,” he explained.

“My understanding is the Galway Flying Club are independent of any other activity. We’re open to have that used . . . but I was not open to paying for the privilege of having someone on site.”

Cllr Cuddy told the Connacht Tribune the agreement was strange.

“We are actually paying them to be there – I’ve never heard of a property being leased to a commercial company that is costing us. This is also costing the council for repayments of the €1.1m loan, just how much I never got an answer about from the Executive,” he stated.

“Galway Chamber sold off that equipment at €500,000 – a knockdown price before the deal was done with the councils and a lot of that equipment was bought by the taxpayer.

“One fire tender alone cost €240,000 when it was bought. The runway cost €300,000. It was a good deal to buy the facility but they need to be more forthcoming about what it is being used for.”

He pointed out that a film company was currently renting out one of the hangars to film a 1916 series, the proceeds of which would go to the Carnmore Aviation rather than the council.

“I believe some form of aviation should be retained at Galway Airport because it’s vital for rescue services, it’s being used to transfer vital organs and the multinationals are using it to bring in their top executives and they’re a very important part of Galway commercial life.”

Cllr Joe Byrne proposed a motion – passed without a vote – calling on the councils to extend the current lease arrangements with Carnmore Aviation for a minimum of 11 months.

“The purpose of this motion is to ensure that we don’t have a situation on December 16, that the gates are closed, IAA licencing agreements expired and we are all asking how did we allow a situation develop which sees the end of a service for facilitating our multinational companies, Coastguard and Air Corps landings.”

He pointed out that the €105,000 from the councils was a contribution for matters relating to security, maintenance and insurance.