A campaign for the development of a new international airport in Galway has led to a clash between the city's Chamber of Commerce and Junior Minister Eamon O Cuiv. The Chamber, which operates the existing airport, plans to spend £5 million in expanding it. But the Minister says this idea should be abandoned and that instead a new £20 million airport should be built at a different location.
Galway Airport is one of the country's smaller regional airports with around 70,000 passengers passing through every year. It has just 6 Aer Lingus flights to and from Dublin each day, having lost Ryanair and Air Kilroe links to London and Manchester in recent years. The airport board now plans to spend £5million expanding the airport, which is located 7 miles from the city centre. But Minister O Cuiv says that this plan should be abandoned and an entirely new airport built on a 500 acre site owned by the Department of the Defence at Oranmore, just two miles away.
Despite the growing campaign for the building of a major international airport on the Department of Defence site, the airport board has said it is planning to press ahead with its own plans. However, a new report commissioned by Galway Corporation, which is due to be published later this month, is believed to strongly recommend the building of a major airport at Oranmore.
