Ryanair Chief decries 'local lunatics' pushing for Waterford Airport development

Ryanair Chief Michael O'Leary has thrown cold water on the hopes of Ryanair supporting the plans for the development of Waterford Airport.

Speaking at the airline's quarterly press conference televised by Sky News, O'Leary said "there's a bunch of local lunatics there who are determined to get a government grant to build a jet runway" when asked if Ryanair would be returning to the regional airport to celebrate its "40th anniversary" of flights from the runway.

"Who?" O'Leary initially responded before directing a colleague to deal with the question - "That's a question for you, are we going back to Waterford?"

"Don't think so... There's a nice road up to Dublin, and it's not that far away. There's plenty of flights out of Dublin," came the response from the Ryanair representative.

O'Leary echoed this sentiment, saying that Waterford is within the "catchment" of Dublin airport, saying he felt the airport "has no commercial or economic future, but we wish them well".

"It's about an hour from Cork Airport. We have said - and there's a bunch of local lunatics there who are determined to get a government grant to build a jet runway - we said if we get a jet runway and there was a low-cost base, i.e. it was free, we might put one or two flights a day back in there from London. But really it's in the catchment area of Cork and Dublin and therefore I think it has no commercial or economic future, but we wish them well."

Choosing to see the positive side, Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú issued a statement describing the Ryanair boss's comments as "ill informed".

“Michael O’Leary is not on the ground in Waterford and lacks any great understanding of the opportunities that are currently at Waterford airport," she said, "There are over 5,000 airlines in the world, many of whom would jump at the chance to operate flights to and from Waterford airport and we will be speaking with many of them."

Ms Ní Murchú welcomed the reference to London links saying: “That would be an enormous boost for the region to be connected with a global capital such as London. I see that as an excellent start for a small regional airport like Waterford.”