John Collison. Photo: Getty
The Weston Airport Runway which lies across the border between Dublin and Kildare
The west Dublin airport co-owned by John Collison – self-confessed “aviation fanatic” and billionaire co-founder of payments giants Stripe – last year received a capital injection of €18.9m to finance its expansion.
In 2021, Mr Collision and a group of investors acquired Weston Airport from the Galway builder Brian Connelly.
New accounts filed by airport operator Weston Aviation Academy Ltd, show the new owners ploughed €18.9m into the business last year.
The capital injection brings the company’s share premium account from €11m to €30m.
The airport site straddles the Dublin-Kildare border and lies to the west of Lucan and south of Leixlip.
The Weston company recorded post-tax losses of €3.575m in the 12 months to the end of June last. This followed post-tax losses of €2.96m in the prior year.
A large part of the 2024 loss was €1.72m in non-cash depreciation costs.
The Weston Airport Runway which lies across the border between Dublin and Kildare
John Collison’s father, Denis, sits on the board. Underlining his own aviation credentials in 2017, John Collison piloted a four-seat, twin-engine aircraft from Europe to the United States. He still regularly flies his own plane.
Numbers employed by the company increased from 28 to 30 last year. Directors’ pay rose from €150,000 to €181,200.
The company continued to invest in the airport last year – as the value of land and airfields, the terminal building complex and other assets increased by €4.9m.
The spend on airport facilities followed planning permission being secured for an upgrade in terminal facilities at the airport in 2023.
A planning report lodged with the application by Bernard Dwyer of Tom Phillips & Associates stated that the proposed upgrades were “sought to create a more coherent unified facility with improved linkages between the various buildings”.
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At the end of last June, the land and airfields had a book value of €10m and terminal complex a book value of €8.58m.
Weston Airport is set to expand further with the establishment of a new search-and-rescue (SAR) base which is expected to commence in July of this year.
Plans for a helicopter hangar that forms part of the base is currently before An Bord Pleanála following third party appeals lodged by objectors.
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