Knock Airport to lose €250,000 from volcano eruption

Knock Airport to lose €250,000 from volcano eruption


Anton McNulty

IRELAND West Airport Knock is expected to lose €250,000 this week after the cancellation of both incoming and outgoing flights following the volcanic eruption in Iceland.
The last flight to leave Knock Airport was the 8am flight to Faro on Thursday morning before all flights were cancelled following the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in southern Iceland. The ash rising from the volcano has risen to heights of 30,000 ft and the prevailing wind has meant it is covering most of northern Europe and as a result planes across major European airports have been grounded since Thursday.
Mr Joe Gilmore, Managing Director of Ireland West Airport Knock (IWAK) admitted the disruptions have caused a ‘massive’ impact on the airport with up to 20,000 passengers affected. He explained that Ryanair have told them that they were targeting Wednesday ‘at the earliest’ as a date to resume flights but they had to ‘wait and see’.
He admitted that if the situation is prolonged it could have serious implications for IWAK going forward into the future.
“This is having a massive impact on airports and we estimate that we are losing €25,000 a day for every day that goes by without flights. If this continues until Thursday we expect to lose €250,000 from our income revenue streams which is a massive impact. We normally have 3,000 passengers a day passing through IWAK and if this continues until Thursday that will be 24,000 passengers who will be incommoded by this. If this prolongs for longer I’m afraid it will affect all businesses connected to the travel industry. Hopefully the matter will resolve itself but we will have to wait and see,” he said.
Mr Gilmore admitted that with the flight delays during the winter and the airport traffic control disruptions in January, a volcano eruption was the last thing they thought would happen or would want to happen. He said they were working closely with the Irish Aviation Authority and were hopeful that flights will be taking off and landing at IWAK by the end of the week. He added that he expected extra flights to be made available to cater for the people stranded by the cancellations.
While the airport has been empty, Mr Gilmore said that the airport management have asked staff to take annual leave during the disruption. He said the staff have co-operated with them on this and was very thankful for their understanding during this period.