€10.1m has been allocated to Shannon Airport as part of a near total €108m announcement for Irish airports.
As part of direct exchequer supports for airports in Shannon, Dublin, Cork, Knock, Kerry and Donegal, €107.981m is to be made available by the Department of Transport under the Regional Airports Programme 2021-2025, the Covid-19 Regional State Airports Programme 2021, as well as the Covid-19 Supplementary Supports Scheme for Irish Airports recently approved by the European Commission.
In Shannon’s case, the funding is from the Covid-19 Regional State Airports Programme 2021 (€5.527m) and the Covid-19 Supplementary Supports Scheme for Irish Airports (€4.574m).
So far in 2021, a total of €23.6m in capital funding has been allocated to Shannon Airport compared with Dublin Airport (€97.2m), Cork Airport (€25.1m), Knock (€6.5m), Kerry (€5.9m) and Donegal (€1.6m).
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton (FG) said of the €107.981m allocation, “this will go a long way towards enabling these airports to remain financially sustainable as they move beyond this current crisis and into 2022”.
Shannon Group have welcomed the approval of €10m in funding to Shannon Airport. Mary Considine, CEO of Shannon Group stated, “The aviation sector including airports have been at the epicentre of the devastation caused as a result of the pandemic. As we focus on rebuilding connectivity, we warmly welcome the Government support announced by Minister Naughton through the inclusion of Shannon Airport in the Covid-19 Regional State Airports Programme 2021, and we are grateful of confirmation of final approval of the additional funding for the state airports under the Covid-19 Supplementary Supports Scheme for Irish Airports” recently approved by the European Commission. This will assist in Shannon’s recovery from the Pandemic and rebuilding vital air connectivity for this Region”.