Desmond O’Flynn appointed CEO of Waterford Airport
Desmond O’Flynn has been appointed chief executive of Waterford Airport following the departure of Graham Doyle after six years at the helm.
Most recently director of Aéroport de Dijon-Bourgogne in France, O’Flynn is originally from Dublin and has also previously held senior management roles at Ireland West Airport Knock and at Aéroport de Deauville-Normandie.
He said: “In common with other regional airports, Waterford has been seriously challenged by the economic environment over the past five years but good leadership has brought it through that and the opportunity is now there to move forward with development.
“I was particularly encouraged in this regard by the commitment of Leo Varadkar TD, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in providing funds to further improve safety and allow the airport explore options to extend its runway.”
Identifying some of his own priorities in the role which he will take up in mid-November, he added: “Clearly, we need to expand the range of destinations that Waterford is connected to. At the moment, business and leisure passengers make good use of the existing Flybe routes to Birmingham and Manchester but there remains considerable demand for a resumption of direct services to one of the main London airports.
“As well as working with airline partners, I also see an important part of my remit as being to drive progress on the infrastructure investment at the airport so that the facilities here match our ambition.”