A proposal that could see Galway Airport transformed into a centre for commercial flight training, while remaining in public ownership, has put a fresh option on the table as the future of the strategic Carnmore site continues to be debated.
The Advertiser has seen a detailed lease proposal from Atlantic Flight Training Academy (AFTA ), which offers to establish a permanent training and operational base at Galway Airport and become a rent-paying tenant of Galway City Council and Galway County Council.
The proposal, submitted by AFTA chief executive and head of training Mark Casey, offers the two local authorities an immediate alternative to disposing of the airport site outright.
It comes amid growing debate over the future of the 118-acre property, which is jointly owned by the city and county councils and has been the subject of an expressions-of-interest process.
The councils put the site on the market in 2025, with an advised minimum value of €90,000 per acre and industry expectations at the time that it could achieve at least €10.5 million.
But while a sale could deliver a substantial once-off receipt, the AFTA proposal raises a different question: what might the airport generate if it remained in public ownership and was instead developed as an active aviation and economic asset?
The academy’s proposal begins modestly.
AFTA is offering €100,000 a year in facility rent for suitable hangar, classroom, office, apron and aircraft-parking accommodation, together with minimum annual landing charges of between €50,000 and €100,000.
That would provide a minimum direct annual return of between €150,000 and €200,000 before other charges and aviation-related income are taken into account.
The proposed lease would initially run for five years, with renewal options and normal commercial rent reviews to be agreed. AFTA would also cover agreed service charges, utilities, insurance, rates where applicable and operational costs arising from its occupation of the site.
Crucially, the academy would fund its own teaching fit-out, operational equipment and aircraft-support equipment.
Wider economic potential
It is the wider economic potential outlined in the proposal, however, that could prove most significant in the debate over the airport’s future.
AFTA says its Galway operation could provide a platform for commercial pilot training for Irish and international students, aircraft basing, hangarage, maintenance support and daily flying operations.
It envisages classroom and instructor facilities alongside local employment for instructors, engineers, operations staff and administrators.
The academy also proposes developing links with University of Galway, Atlantic Technological University and regional industry.
AFTA estimates that its own operation could generate additional aviation activity which, combined with other uses, could potentially bring annual airport income to more than €2 million.
That figure is not a guaranteed return under the proposed lease. Rather, it is based on a broader commercial model outlined by AFTA, including fuel sales, aircraft handling, additional hangarage, private aviation, air-taxi services and business aviation.
The academy estimates that a properly operated fuel facility could potentially generate between €150,000 and €250,000 a year in profit.
It also points to the possibility of a niche business aviation market, suggesting that around 1,000 business-aircraft movements annually could generate more than €1.5 million through landing, parking, handling, fuel and associated services.
AFTA further identifies the potential for an aeromedical or HEMS base, suggesting a possible annual lease income in the region of €200,000 to €300,000.
All of those figures are projections contained in the proposal and would depend on investment, demand, planning, aviation regulation and the development of the wider airport operation.
Nevertheless, they present a markedly different proposition from a straightforward sale of the land.
One-off sale would be regretted
The argument is particularly pertinent given concerns expressed in political and community circles that the airport could be sold for around €10 million when its longer-term strategic and development potential could ultimately make it worth considerably more.
The issue has already generated disagreement among councillors. During discussions in 2025, elected members raised concerns about the transparency of the sale process, the absence of a completed masterplan and whether the strategically located site should be retained for future public purposes.
There have also been calls to retain aviation capability at Carnmore, particularly given the potential role of the runway in emergency, medical and other public-service operations.
The AFTA proposal directly addresses that question.
The academy says a Galway base could operate alongside Galway Flying Club, emergency training and other authorised airport users, while preserving the possibility of future emergency, medical, search-and-rescue, public-service and business aviation activity.
In other words, the airport would not have to be regarded simply as an either-or proposition: either an operating airport or a development site.
Instead, AFTA is proposing a model in which aviation activity becomes the anchor for a wider commercial operation while the councils retain ownership of the land.
That approach would also leave the public authorities with an asset that could respond to future needs.
Six proposals
The proposal comes as the councils continue to assess competing economic proposals for the site. In July, Galway County Council confirmed that six proposals were being assessed, with officials declining to disclose details because of commercial sensitivities.
The airport’s future has therefore moved well beyond the question of whether flights will simply return to Carnmore.
The larger question is what value Galway can extract from one of its most strategically located pieces of land — and whether that value is best realised through an immediate sale or through long-term public ownership and commercial leasing.
AFTA’s proposal does not require the councils to sell the airport. It asks them to make part of the site available under a commercial lease, with the academy becoming an anchor tenant and putting aviation activity back at the heart of Carnmore.
For Galway, that distinction could be significant.
A sale would provide a once-off capital receipt. A successful aviation and enterprise model could, if the projections are achieved, provide an ongoing income stream while retaining public ownership of the underlying asset.
The proposal also leaves open the possibility of future uses that may not yet be apparent.
With its runway, hangars, location close to the motorway network and proximity to Galway’s major hospitals, universities, medtech industry and tourism economy, the site possesses characteristics that are difficult to recreate once the land is sold and developed for another purpose.
The decision facing the two councils is therefore not simply about what the airport is worth today.
It is also about what value it might generate tomorrow — and whether that future value should be captured through a sale or through a long-term strategy in which the public retains ownership while private operators generate income from the site.
AFTA’s offer provides a concrete commercial proposition for the latter approach.
It is now for Galway City Council and Galway County Council to consider whether that proposal, and the wider aviation opportunities it identifies, should form part of the assessment of what happens next at Carnmore.
For a site that was once the gateway through which Galway connected with the wider world, the latest proposal suggests that its aviation story may not yet be finished.
