Ireland West Airport still flying high 40 years on
At the helm for the last 17 years, CEO Joe Gilmore has been part of a core management team which has guided the success of Knock airport.
The continued growth clearly highlights “that people want to use the airport and will use the airport if we have the services and capacity available for them”.
“There are still many people across the region here that won’t fly from anywhere else,” noted the CEO.
Convenience and accessibility continue to be key selling points, borne out by research.
“What we are finding is that people won’t go to the West of Ireland unless they can fly in directly. They don’t have to go through Dublin and deal with all the additional logistics that comes with that,” said Mr Gilmore.
It’s clear that Ireland West is also proving to be very convenient for Roscommon people along with providing clear economic spin-offs for the county. Almost 50,000 outbound passengers from the county used the airport last year with more than 25,000 overseas visitors using the airport as a gateway to visit Roscommon.
RedC research in 2025 highlighted that visitors to the county spent an average of six nights there, a figure which was up from an average of four nights in the same report in 2023.
Twenty one percent of those overseas visitors who visited Roscommon last year did so for holiday purposes with Lough Key Forest Park and Strokestown Park cited among the main attractions.
County Roscommon is now the fourth biggest market from an outbound passenger perspective behind Mayo, Galway and Sligo.
Mr Gilmore also points out that given the airport’s location, a lot of Roscommon people work there.
“We had 200 people employed here in 2025 with additional staff of about 60. When it comes to people working here, it’s pretty much all local people who live in close proximity, with a sizable number from Roscommon. The airport has become a significant employer in the region.
“Then there’s the downstream effect with another estimated 3,000 people indirectly employed. We’re also continually spending money with contractors on site all the time,” he explained.
Mr Gilmore is keen to pay tribute to all the staff who continue to ensure the successful operation of the airport, which is a complex enterprise in itself.
Notably, there is plenty of Roscommon influence when it comes to making key decisions. Ballymore CEO and Oran native Sean Mulryan is on the airport board as is Roscommon County Council CEO Shane Tiernan.
Mr Tiernan is fulfilling a remit as part of seven local authorities who invested €7m in the airport about a decade ago.
Ryanair and Aer Lingus continue to provide an important backbone to the airport’s business and it’s interesting that both the airport and Ryanair are two huge success stories that started around the same.
“As Michael O’Leary said on the 30th year anniversary, Ryanair has been a major part of ourairport’s success but we also have been a major part of Ryanair’s success particularly in the early years. We were one of the first airports after Waterford that Ryanair first flew out of,” Mr Gilmore recalled.
It’s hoped that Michael O’Leary will be a keynote speaker for the anniversary gala event in May that will mark the airport’s 40th anniversary.
With the support of the Department of Transport, almost €8m was invested in safety, security, and infrastructure projects at the airport in 2025.
Key projects included the construction of a new sheltered passenger walkway and the start of construction on a new 1.5MW PV solar farm.
The solar farm, due to be commissioned later this year, will cover up to 50% of the airport’s power requirements at peak demand.
Significant money is also being spent on climate adaptation and mitigation measures.
“We are part of what’s called an ACA (Airport Carbon Accreditation) programme. It’s a six level programme and we’re halfway through the process at level three. We have sustainability targets to try and hit in terms of net zero and we’re currently taking a variety of actions to reduce the carbon footprint of the airport itself,” explained the airport CEO.
Other notable projects include the development of a new fire training centre for the airport’s fire training staff and a new substation to provide additional power supply into the airport. As Mr Gilmore outlined, the latter will provide “more robustness in terms of potential weather events.”
There are broader plans to spend another €35m over the next five years to encompass a range of developments such as an upgrade to the terminal facilities and additional car parking capacity.
The first original objective of the Airport Trust was international access for the region and the second job creation for the region.
This latter objective involves a signature plan to develop a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) into a major business campus.
Modelled on the concept of the industrial expansion that took place around Shannon Airport during the 1960s and 1970s, it is a plan that potentially could create up to 6,000 jobs.
The Government agreed to fund the appointment of a new project manager to lead this ambitious venture and in late 2024, Ballinlough native Dominic Healy was appointed.
Mr Healy is currently working on updating the development plan for the SDZ.
Mr Gilmore pointed out that the SDZ roadmap will be presented to Government later this year. Currently, there are 30 development sites within this SDZ, which require initial enabling infrastructure such as wastewater and power.
The airport CEO acknowledged the continued support of successive Governments, ministers and politicians who ensure that regional airports such as Knock receive critical funding.
He and his team are looking forward to continuing to work with Government representatives to further develop and grow the airport from 2026 onwards.
A key funding channel to achieve that is provided under the State’s Regional Airports’ Programme, and a new programme, running to 2030, is expected to published shortly by the Department of Transport.
On Mr Gilmore’s list of wider acknowledgments is the people of the West and beyond who continue to place their trust in the airport’s services.
He was also proud to say that, due to generous public support, Ireland West’s annual charity initiative has become a huge success, raising well over €800,000 for local charities over the last eight years or so.
In December, the airport was delighted to present a cheque for a record €54,000 to the airport’s six staff-nominated charities for 2025, which includes Mayo Roscommon Hospice.
At the helm for the last 17 years, Mr Gilmore has been part of a core management team which has guided the remarkable success of the airport.
Not surprisingly, he harbours lots of fond memories over this time, especially those involving some of the landmarks events such as the Pope’s visit in 2018.
“It was the fulfilment of Monsignor Horan’s dream that when the next Pope came to Ireland after the 1979 visit that he would fly directly into the airport beside the Shrine.”
He also points to Joe Biden’s visit as US President in 2023 as another memorable occasion with Airforce 1 flying into the West of Ireland and touching down on the Knock tarmac.
For staff, passengers and their families, many more great memories are set to be made at a place which, over the last 40 years, has undoubtedly become one of the jewels in the West of Ireland’s crown.
