THE Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD, has announced that he has approved the payment of just over €2million to the regional airports, including Kerry, under the current Regional Airports Programme.

That funding is in respect of subvention payments in 2014 for Core Airport Management Operational Expenditure (OPEX). The OPEX Scheme compensates regional airports for eligible costs incurred in providing core airports services, insofar as they cannot be fully recovered from non-core income derived from activities such as restaurants, bars, parking and so forth.

Today’s approved funding will bring the total financial supports paid by the Exchequer under the Regional Airports Programme to nearly €13 million in 2014.

Under the current Programme, which ends this year, the Exchequer provides financial support to Kerry, IWA Knock, Waterford and Donegal under three main schemes;

• A Core Airport Management Operational Expenditure Subvention (OPEX) Scheme
• A Regional Airports Capital Expenditure Grant (CAPEX) Scheme, and
• A Public Service Obligation (PSO) air services Scheme.

Payments under the PSO Scheme are made directly to the carrier, while OPEX and CAPEX payments are made to the airports.