The big guns of business in the south-east have rallied to a campaign to revive the fortunes of Waterford Regional Airport and harness its potential to boost local development.
The goal is to establish effective new air links with Britain to meet the demands of business executives and tap into a high-quality niche market in tourism.
The airport, a strategic facility for the region, is now under-utilised and in decline. Its single daily scheduled flight at midday, between Waterford and Stansted near London, enjoys high seat occupancy rates but is entirely unsuited to the needs repeatedly expressed by business people for early morning flights to London with an evening return service.
The chief executives of major industries in the region have now joined the airport board, which is to push for the state aid necessary to underwrite the start-up operations of a new carrier and give the airport a vibrant role in the south-east's rapidly developing commercial life.
The new board chairman, Dr Cormac MacNamara, says: "We have an asset out there. We have an airport in which around £6 million has been invested. The limiting factor is that because of our proximity to Dublin and Cork, it is just not viable at present.
"It is difficult to express adequately the extent to which the major industries here perceive this as a valuable asset. The commercial life of the city is missing out badly because it is not being exploited fully."
The primary target is to attract a suitable carrier to introduce the much-needed new services. "In order to get a carrier, we need a significant subsidy, at least in the early years," says Dr MacNamara. "You would have to guarantee that carrier that he wasn't going to lose out."
That subsidy could amount to about £300,000 annually for the first three years, after which, the new board is convinced, the airport would be close to viability. The demand for such temporary assistance is not unreasonable, the board says, as the other regional airports are heavily subsidised.
Waterford Airport opened in 1981 and was a springboard for Ryanair's early operations. Its passenger traffic built up at one stage to 47,000 annually; now it has declined to around 18,000 and the airport is operating at a modest loss of under £12,000.
Dr MacNamara has been joined on the board by business figures such as Mr Redmond O'Donoghue, chief executive of Waterford Crystal; Mr James Kennedy, vice-president of Bausch & Lomb; Mr Pat Gilhooly, chief executive of Hasbro; Mr John Hickey, of Allied Signal, and several other major company executives.
"Our mandate is to come up with a realistic plan that would be viable within three years, " says Dr MacNamara. "Our primary job is to try and develop an air bridge to the UK so that the very important commercial link to Britain will be strengthened."
At the time the airport was opened, he says, "there was a vision of the skies black with small aircraft criss-crossing Ireland."
That was in the era of turboprop aircraft, for which Waterford Airport is very adequately suited. But with the advent of big jets and cut-price "bucket" fares, the smaller turbo-prop plane has largely become yesterday's aircraft, and Waterford is left with an airport geared to conditions a decade ago.
However, there is still an important niche market for turboprop services. The existing Waterford-Stansted midday service has 60 per cent seat occupancy year-round, but from the point of view of a time-pressured executive going to London for a one-day meeting, it is impractical.
The new board believes it is unrealistic to try to undertake the major capital investment required to extend the runway length to suit large jets. This would also bring the Waterford facility into competition with the major airports - an impractical concept.
"What makes sense is to use the asset that is there," says Dr MacNamara. "Realistically, we have three options. We can fold, and closing the airport would probably cause no great pain to Government, if the truth be told, but it would be a significant blow to local industry and the regional economy.
"We can carry on with the present low rate of attraction and with under-use of the airport. Or we can try and see if, around the existing runway and with turbo-prop aircraft, we can get sufficient subsidy and build a niche market of our own."