Building Mayo airport to full capacity 'key to Atlantic economic corridor'
Transport Minister Darragh O'Brien has stated he is 'familiar' with potential investment at Ireland West Airport Knock and wants to support it 'as best as the government can.'
Speaking in Dáil Éireann, Mayo TD Conway-Walsh raised the importance of the airport in terms of the development of the Atlantic economic corridor, particularly the SDZ scheme there.
She elaborated: "If that is built to its full capacity, it could deliver more than 95,000 sq. m of commercial business and enterprise space and create 4,200 jobs.
"In the whole geopolitical climate and challenges we are facing at the moment, it is critical that this is done sooner rather than later.
"I welcome the fact that a project manager was appointed last year, but I ask the Minister for a specific timeline.
"How does the government aim to fast-track that development zone in order to enable the further development in the region?
"Obviously, that includes the western rail corridor, and the connectivity to the airport is hugely important.
"I know the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Canney, is very familiar with that. I know the Government cannot dictate what flights go where, but will the Minister consider, when talking to Aer Lingus, whether it would be possible for a flight from Heathrow to the west of Ireland to be scheduled on Friday evenings and going back late on Sunday evenings to facilitate all the workers who are commuting to and from London and the region?"
In response, Minister O'Brien stated: "I am familiar with the potential investment there and we want to support that as best we can.
"Looking at the industrial zones or commercial zones around our airports, the on-campus jobs are critical but there are also the indirect jobs.
"Take Dublin Airport as an example. About 22,000 people are employed directly on campus, with about 135,000 indirect jobs.
"As airports grow, for every additional one million passengers there are about another thousand direct jobs. That is how important aviation is."