Knock airport looks to commercial sector to recoup losses

Knock airport looks to commercial sector to recoup losses


Anton McNulty

THE commercial and retail sector of Ireland West Airport Knock will be restructured over the summer months in a effort by the airport to recoup some of the losses endured by the volcano disruptions.
The airport reopened its doors for business last Wednesday with Aer Lingus the first airline to recommence their service from Gatwick, while on Thursday flights from Faro and Alicante arrived and on Friday Ryanair recommenced their flights from Knock to the UK. By the weekend, it was business as usual which came as a welcome relief to the airport which was losing approximately €25,000 a day during the disruption.
The Managing Director of IWAK, Joe Gilmore told The Mayo News that there was a ‘sigh of relief’ when the flights recommenced after six days and all passengers who were discommoded by the cancellations were accommodated on flights over the weekend. He estimated that the airport lost €200,000 from the cancellations and is hopeful that they will start making up for those losses over the summer but did not expect any major cutbacks.
“We were very pleased when they announced that flights were to start again and there are a sigh of relief across the airport. Everything is back to full schedule and the passenger numbers were good over the weekend. We are hopeful that we will be able to make a recovery over the summer and we can pick up some of our losses. We will be looking to work on the commercial side of the airport and give passengers an incentive to arrive early at the airport and use the catering and avail of the duty free,” he said.
Knock Airport was closed for business from Thursday morning following the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in southern Iceland, which resulted in the closure of airspace in Northern Europe. Up until last Tuesday, there was no indication of when the airspace could be reopened but on Wednesday morning it was decided to reopen some airspace.
Mr Gilmore explained that it was the uncertainty of when the flights would recommence which was the big issue for the airport. Airport staff were asked to take annual leave during the disruption and he thanked the staff for their co-operation during the period. It was very much appreciated by management.