The Board of Ireland West Airport Knock wishes to clarify its position unequivocally in relation to its policies on military flights.

The Airport Board will only ever consider facilitating military flights on humanitarian and ethical grounds. Furthermore, such military flights would have to have the support of both the Irish Government and the United Nations.

The Airport is, and will remain, fully supportive of Irish/UN peacekeeping missions and has made the facilities of the Airport available to the Irish Defence Forces for this purpose.

The Airport firmly believes that any military operation that does not have the support of both the Irish Government and the United Nations is not compatible with the mission and aims of the Airport which were agreed by the Board in 2005.  “The Airport is conscious of its connectedness, not just with the region, but also with people outside the region and in other countries and continents. Its culture and values will reflect its interdependence with the world and its duty to act responsibly as a member of a local and wider global community.

Ethical and humanitarian considerations are the prime concerns for the Airport when determining policies relating to servicing military flights.

Finally, the Board wishes to reinforce the sentiments expressed in our recent statement which are that it acknowledges Mr. McEvaddy’s wealth of experience and integrity in the aviation and business world. Such qualities are, and will be, of tremendous value to the Airport in its future development.