The decision to operate a route is an operational matter for the airlines themselves and is generally based on the commercial viability of the routes in question. There is no policy instrument available to the Department to persuade transatlantic carriers to invest in specific routes to specific airports and the Department does not have any input into this decision making process.
However, the Government does support the development of air connectivity through funding to Tourism Ireland for cooperative marketing activity. Cooperative campaigns with partners facilitate increased marketing effort and help promote the destination more widely. They assist in driving demand for new and existing inbound air and sea services and leverage commercial investment in marketing Irish tourism, thereby sustaining the island’s vital route network.
The funding provided through Tourism Ireland is supported by contributions from regional tourism stakeholders (airports and ports) and matched by air and sea carriers resulting in new access and the maximisation in potential of existing services to the regions. This optimises Ireland’s Ancient East, Wild Atlantic Way and more recently Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands’ initiatives.
Supporting both seasonal and regional growth will again be the focus for Tourism Ireland in 2019, with the aim of increasing visitor numbers in the shoulder season. This will be underscored by a commitment to focus co-operative partnership activities on the January-April and October-December periods for Great Britain and the North American and European markets.
As the Deputy is aware, the Regional Airports Programme provides grant aid for safety and security related projects and activities at Ireland's regional airports. The amounts provided to Ireland West Airport Knock under this Programme in the years 2015 to 2018 are as follows:
2015 – €1,162,971.00
2016 – €2,933,419.30
2017 – €3,199,355.14
2018 – €4,176,104.70
Grant funding to the airports under the Regional Airports Programme is provided at different times of the year depending on the schemes involved. In 2019, a total of €21.7m is being provided to the Programme and, of this amount, over €10 million is available for capital investment projects such as the runway overlay project at Ireland West Airport Knock.
Funding applications from the regional airports in respect of capital projects for 2019 have been received by my Department. These applications are being assessed to ensure full compliance with the conditions of the grant schemes under the Regional Airports Programme as well as with EU State Aid Rules. I expect to announce the associated capital grant allocations for each airport in due course. Claims in respect of operational expenses are submitted to the Department later in the year and payments are usually made to the airports in early December.
