*Liam Skelly at his home in Scariff. Photograph: Natasha Barton
ESTABLISHING AER RIANTA INTERNATIONAL stands out as the highlight in a distuinguished career for Liam Skelly.
Living in Scariff since 1955 with his wife Jo, Liam is in remarkable condition at the age of 93. All of his seven daughters are based locally, married and working with “a good deal of grandchildren” to also keep him entertained.
Growing up in Tipperary, it comes as no surprise that Liam played hurling when attending Thurles CBS. He is the holder of a National Hurling League medal and he also captained Dublin to win an All-Ireland junior title. “I played with Tipperary in 1947, I won an All-Ireland minor with Tipp. At senior, I just came down and played a few league games with Tipp, I said I’d give up hurling and I abandoned it, the following year they won the All-Ireland, I missed out on all of that, I’d at least have been on the panel if not playing so I lost out and that was the end of my hurling career,” he recounted.
Staying fit and healthy has always been a priority for Liam who is one month away from his 94th birthday. “I was always healthy, I didn’t ever drink too much, I played hurling, I stayed very active and I kept fit, I ran and did all kinds of thing like that. I eat healthy enough, I don’t over-eat”.
Reflecting on his career, the highlight of his time as Director of Shannon Airport was playing a pivotal role in setting up Aer Rianta International (ARI). “Setting up the international was the biggest thing, it has done wonders for this whole region. We had a whole new business, we first of all started to attract airlines, Michael Guerin was my deputy and he became Director of Shannon when I withdrew, I went with Aer Rianta International altogether. They were attracting airlines into Shannon by selling fuel at a very good price, they started going their own fuel which was called Shannon Aviation Fuel, the fuel came on ships from Ventspilss, the Russians brought in their own fuel from Ventspils, the Baltic all the way down the North Sea, up the mount of the Shannon and it was pointed to tankers there to be used by Aeroflot, because it was a better price than Shell and Esso were charging airlines, we attracted a big number of flights into the airport who were on chartered business to Europe who were trying to get a good deal anywhere.
“When we joined with Aer Rianta, it was to give a total package, reduced landing fees, reduced oil prices for refuelling so we attracted all kinds of people on the North Atlantic who needed to stop somewhere. We got an awful lot because we had a package so people said this was the place to stop because you get everything. When we joined with the catering and the shops we were able to give them the complete package, we did an awful lot of traffic with a big number of businesses going through,” he added.
Although he moved to ARI, he stayed working out of the Shannon offices. “I never went to Dublin, I didn’t want to, they wanted me to but I wouldn’t go, I was the Deputy Chief Executive of Aer Rianta but I said I wasn’t moving, I never went up as the Chief Executive, I said I would withdraw and stay with Shannon, I did and I’m happy I did”.
Along their hallway in Scariff is a painting of the deal he helped to broker with the Soviet Government. His vision, enthusiasm and can-do attitude were responsible for ARI’s successful entry into the Russian market in 1988 when Moscow Duty Free opened for business. This event, with further openings in St. Petersburg and Kiev, set the foundation for ARI’s success and expansion into other markets.
Often, he was in Moscow twice a week in advance of this deal. “It was non-stop at that time, midnight and 7am on Aeroflot, I once flew over at 7am and got back at 9:30pm, I did business in Moscow, flew from Moscow to St Petersburg and got a night flight from St Petersburg to Dublin and then the 10pm Aer Lingus flight from Shannon home,” he reflected.
It ignited many memories for him. “Going to Moscow and dealing with all the Russians, Izvinite, pozhaluysta which means excuse me please, eto krasnyy kvadrat is that red square (laughs). I used to meet them going through, Shannon was a great stopoff because all the planes had to refuel so you were meeting them all, eventually they heard we were gone to Russia and we were getting calls from everybody, we opened up in Bahrain and then Dublin took it all, they took Bahrain which was totally unfair, Shannon was blagarded totally, nobody complained, I had no say, I withdrew and they treated me very badly. I withdrew in 2002, I left my permanent job and because I was being retained to do all this work in Shannon, in 2010 Dublin were preparing to take over Aer Rianta International and they fired me, they told me I couldn’t go out to Russia to say goodbye to the Russians, they forbid me and said they wouldn’t pay for anything so I couldn’t go, I got a letter from the pro-Russians which I thought was lovely”.
Still very sharp, Liam’s daily attempts to do the crossword in The Irish Times may be to credit for this. “I listen to the radio, watch television, take walks and read a bit, I like reading poetry. I did a tour of Ballylee once and on it was ‘I the poet William Butler Yeats with old mill boards and sea green slates we stored this tower for my wife George and may these characters remain when all is ruin once again’, they had hammered that out on a leaden plaque. I read poetry but I’m happy”.
