Airport sale: Weston aerodrome fetches 3.5m

A Galway-based civil engineering and building firm has purchased Weston Executive Airport near Lucan in west Dublin for more than €3.5 million.

Savills handled the sale to Brian Conneely Co Associates for Kieran Wallace of KPMG, who was appointed by Nama as a receiver to a number of distressed property assets held by the Citywest businessman Jim Mansfield, including the airfield.

Weston traded exceptionally well during the the boom years when many business executives and property developers acquired jets and helicopters. The majority of the aircraft used by property executives have been sold, many on Nama's instructions.

Mr Conneely said yesterday his company planned to upgrade some of the buildings as well as the radar system to generate more traffic through the airport. It intends to focus on aviation education courses and innovative aviation projects, which should attract enterprise funding.

Mr Mansfield's initial success at Citywest led him to acquire the airfield in the early 2000s for about €4.5 million.