Published: Wednesday, 18th August, 2010 5:30pm
Boost for Tubber Airport plans
by Deirdre Verney
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A graphic design image depicting what the main airport building may look like.
The prospect of Athlonians flying from Tubber to destinations across Europe and the world has taken a massive leap forward this week after An Bord Pleanala judged the ambitious €200 million international airport plans to be a strategic infrastructure project, a decision that means it can bypass the local planning process and go to the board directly for a verdict.
The backers, led by Tullamore-based architect Patrick Little and a group of investors estimate they could create over 5,000 jobs in the airport project, including a further 2,000 in the construction phase of the massive aviation project entailing a 6,000 square metre terminal building with capacity for 2 million passengers, a 2.7 kilometre long and a 60 metre wide runway.
Ancillary aviation services including cargo related business, hangars, fire station, control tower and maintenance buildings are also included in the ambitious application along with car parking on the 650 hectare site close to the M6 motorway in the Tubber/Horseleap areas stretching to within a couple of miles from Clara and some 20 kilometres from Athlone.
The massive project would cater for both passenger traffic and commercial cargo traffic and would include a rail link to the Dublin/Galway line, the first airport in Ireland to do so.
"We hope to be in a position to lodge a planning application with the board, all going well, in around eight months," said Mr Little.
It's hoped if planning is successful that work would begin on the airport by the end of 2011, and be operational by the end of 2013.
* See full report in this week's Westmeath Independent
Have your say. .
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ricky_connolly
Unregistered User
Aug 22, 01:33
Comment ID: 3681
What a terrible idea. I guess the Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Galway, Sligo, Kerry, Donegal, Waterford and Ireland West airports arent quite enough for this courty of 4.5 million people. We have four international airports, all of which are hemorrhaging money because they cannot find enough business, and our government is now planning to spend almost a quater of a billion euros to add another one to the roster.
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longfordman
Unregistered User
Aug 25, 13:07
Comment ID: 3698
Here here Ricky!
Athlone- end your delusional quest for city status!
You're a smallish commuter town for Galway- that is enough.
Work from that basis and you'll be fine!
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JOHN H
Unregistered User
Aug 25, 13:31
Comment ID: 3700
If backers are available why not and as the economy is currently down in theory the work should be done for a good price. Key point is it will provide local jobs.
Athlonians always thought big and why not - the town has expanded dramatically in the last 20 years and an airport will help local business and attract new visitors and businesses to the area.
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Athlone is fear
Unregistered User
Aug 26, 16:52
Comment ID: 3706
Athlone has expanded granted- but with a population of less than 20K it still doesn't qualify for city status. Having a small catchment area of 80-100k (oe whatever the population of Galway is) people within an hours drive doesn't make it sensible to build an airport either!!
You don't hear such nonsense up the road in Mullingar or Navan (where there are over a MILLION people less than 35 minutes drive away from both towns)
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pragmatist
Unregistered User
Sep 14, 22:34
Comment ID: 3786
Ireland needs less airports not more
Lets leverage existing underutilised infrastructure as opposed to building new capabilities in places where they are not required and where the only beneficiaries will the landowners who are promoting this white elephant
Athlone is probably a shorter travel time by car to Dublin Airport than say someone living in Dun Laoghaire...... get real folks, as you are having smoke blown up your asses by a snake oil salesman
Whats next? Tullamore monorail?
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brian cowen
Unregistered User
Jan 23, 02:10
Comment ID: 4325
great no more paying 140 per week for parking
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Anthony McTigue
Unregistered User
Mar 10, 13:12
Comment ID: 4536
I was just listening to the radio where they were talking about the casino planned for North Tipperary. A text was read out that was sent in by someone giving out about pointless projects, quoting this as a prime example. I quite simply didn't believe what I was hearing so I Googled it and found this article. How do the guys behind this manage to keep a straight face? We already have far more airports than we ever should have. All of them bar DUB are so close together that none of them have sufficient catchements to ever really be viable without massive government subsidies. Furthermore, we've spent billions on building motorways/railways. Athlone is now just over an hour's drive from DUB and in the next few years, will be just over an hour from SNN and NOC. They brag about this being the first airport in Ireland to have a direct rail link. The money this airport will cost would easily cover the cost of building spur lines to SNN,DUB,ORK and even opening enough of the westen rail corridor to connect NOC. You could have four airports with rail links for the same price as one. I really hope this gets turned down. It will be living, breathing proof that we've learned nothing about infrastructure planning if idiotic local egos still form the basis of infrastructure planning in Ireland.
Anthony McTigue
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EINN
Unregistered User
Mar 11, 21:23
Comment ID: 4539
Add an airport at Athlone with one daily flight to London and before you know it, Shannon will no longer be able to support three flights a day to Heathrow. With less than 3 flights a day, many people who would gladly have used Shannon will be forced to use Dublin to find flight times that suit them. Hence, more airports in the regions means less passengers in the regions and more traffic moves to Dublin. Good for Dublin, bad for the already struggling airports everywhere else. This proposal is madness. Total madness.
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TONY
Unregistered User
Mar 13, 19:18
Comment ID: 4543
200 million wouldn't even build the terminal and ancilliary buildings.
The runway proposed would cost around 120 to 150 million; What about the air traffic control systems and landing aids? At least another 150+ million. Airport fire vehicles for the emergency services are currently costing DAA just under 1m per vehicle [920,000 for their latest foan tender!] and thats just one small part of the costs.
My estimate of the cost of the present proposal? Over €500 million.
In case you think I don't know what I'm talking about, I recently retired from the International Civil Aviation Organisation [ICAO] having worked on projects in 23 countries. Even the smallest of these, in Surinam, South America, with one runway shorter than proposed here and less than one million passengers per year cost over US$ 1 billion or approximately €700M.
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Johnnie
Unregistered User
Mar 27, 17:37
Comment ID: 4627
Great News A bit of employment at last for the midlands that hopefully it wont be all foreign workers their working as Carpenter's and other Trades for the minimum wage ,The Government needs to put something in place that anyone working as a Carpenter or working in any of the other trades should have to be paid the Union rate For that Trade ,This is why the best of Irish Tradesmen are on the dole as we have a house and Family to keep in this Country and cant afford to work for anything less than the Union Rate,While the Foreigners can work for the minimum rate as they have no one to feed only themselves and the Child Benifit and most of their wages is sent back home to their own Country ,Which means that Ireland is gettng poorer and foreign country's are getting richer this is what was happening during the Celtic Tiger years The wages that was payed out for work was'nt put back into Circulation in this Country , So all us Trades Men need a Level playing Field (ie) no exploiting Foreigner's with Minimum wages Pay Every Man and Woman the Union Rate for their Trade.
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