Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director, Cork Airport (daa plc)

Niall MacCarthy is Managing Director of Cork Airport, the second largest airport in the Republic of Ireland, with an extensive route network which comprised pre-COVID, 50 routes with nine scheduled airlines. The airport handled 2.6m passengers in 2019. After a very difficult two years of COVID-19, Cork Airport is forecast to process over 2 million passengers in 2022, which represents over seven times the passenger traffic handled in 2021. This represents a very strong 77% recovery to pre-pandemic traffic, which exceeds European airport forecasts for 2022.

Cork Airport was voted the best airport in Europe in its class by Airport Council International in 2017 and again in 2019. Cork Airport won the prestigious World Routes Marketing Award for best B2B marketing to airlines in 2018 and was named Ireland's Most Punctual Airport for 2019 by OAG. Cork Airport is one of four successful businesses making up daa plc, which operates in Ireland and abroad.

“Surround yourself with positive people who work hard, enjoy life, are kind and decent and get things done.”

Niall MacCarthy

Niall MacCarthy, LinkedIn

Niall was appointed Chair of the Airport Council International Europe Regional Airports Forum in June 2019, having been Vice-Chair for two years. This body represents the voice of hundreds of Europe's smaller airports through the ACI Europe permanent offices in Brussels. Niall also sits on the board of the joint Cork City/Cork County local leisure and business tourism body (Visit Cork/Cork Convention Bureau).

With 20 years of experience in airports, Niall is proud to lead the team at Cork Airport, having previously worked in other Irish airports. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland by profession and, before aviation, worked in the head office of a major retail organisation in Dublin.

Niall is married with five children and lives near Kinsale, County Cork – along Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way. Unsurprisingly, given the business he works in, he loves to travel in his spare time and explore new countries, foods' and experiences.

What is your favourite social media platform, and why?

LinkedIn - I spend 30 minutes per day on LinkedIn, generally first thing in the morning before breakfast. It is the only social media channel I am active on. I find it really good and engaging from a business-to-business and person-to-person perspective.

Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.

I am Managing Director of Cork Airport, which is my day-to-day responsibility. In addition, I sit on the executive of daa Group, which manages Dublin and Cork Airports, Aer Rianta International (ARI) (the world's first duty-free company), and daa International (which provides expertise in aviation and manages airports internationally).

I am also the Chair of the Airports Council International - Regional Airports Forum, which represents the voice of four hundred of Europe's regional airports, ranging from quite small to quite big. I am also Vice-Chair of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, which is the voice of Ireland's tourism industry.

What do you like about your career or area of focus?

I love aviation. I love tourism and travel. No two days are the same in running an airport. We have a mixture of long-term planning, which in infrastructure terms can be up to 30 years and the day-to-day management of matters which can change by the hour.

My job, like all jobs, can have terrible weeks and months and really exciting weeks and months. But, overall, I believe you have to like and love your work, to do good work and if you don't love your work, you need to find different work that suits your skills.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

I had an inspiring and charismatic boss who was previously Chief Operating Officer in daa, who encouraged me to develop and invest in emotional intelligence and team building. When you get to a certain level in an organisation, you need less subject matter skills and more team delegation, strategic planning and communication skills. So, you need a certain skillset at the start of your career and a broader skill set as you move up the ladder.

What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?

Doing a job well and seeing the fruits of your labours inspires me. I believe you can't be good at everything, but what you do choose to do, you should do well and take pride in it.

What are you proud of in your life so far?

My kids, without a shadow of a doubt.

What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?

Nothing like an event or an in-person meal. Online and video have their place, but for real networking, it has to be face-to-face.

What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?

I qualified as an accountant, and that has proven to be a great business foundation for every job and role which I have filled. Subsequently, when I worked in a major retail multiple, I trained as an IT Project Manager. A combination of business and project management skills is very useful when combined with a focus on team and people.

What do you wish you had known when you started out?

It's all about the team. Once the organisation is bigger than a one-man band, everything is about forming, motivating, inspiring, leading, managing, challenging and developing a team.

Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?

The late Fergal Quinn (Superquinn supermarkets) championed the customer in terms of retail and majored in quality and customer service. This generation's most outstanding Irish businessman has to be Ryanair's, Michael O'Leary.

Aviation has bred a number of incredible Irish talents, from Willie Walsh (formerly of IAG) to Domhnall Slattery (Avolon Aircraft Leasing). I also see a lot of real, emerging talent in sustainability, and some of the next generations of business pioneers will be in this sphere.

Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?

I really love to travel. I'm quite sociable and enjoy eating out, and the spicier the food, the better. So, my de-stress is to take my small boat (70hp Yamaha engine) out of Kinsale Harbour for a morning's sea angling with my sons. Nothing like the coastline, the cliffs, the birds and the beaches of Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way.

Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?

Spinning the pandemic in a positive sense is probably not credible, but there were some good things that emerged from it. The best thing I can say is that we managed our way through it and are emerging the far side to regrow our business in a changed but successful direction.

Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?

I mentor a graduate in the daa Mentorship Programme, and I really enjoy it. It is about an hour every three weeks. I had a dedicated business mentor for about six years in daa, and I am a huge fan of the process.

The mentors used in that programme were all recently retired CEOs, and COOs and so had lived similar challenges and opportunities and brought experience and wisdom to the table. I would encourage anyone in business if offered the opportunity of mentorship in a suitable programme to avail of it.

What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?

I know three industries well, having worked in them... accountancy and audit practice, retail and airports. Both retail and airports are high-octane and fast-paced businesses. For example, in the retail sector, I was in, we are open 363 days a year, and in airports, we are open 364 days a year.

These are not nine to five sectors, and if you're interested in working in them at a senior level, you really need to love and be genuinely interested in the sector to keep your motivation levels high.

What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?

At the leadership level, not delegating. Also, not spending enough time on selecting and forming your team and trying to do too much yourself.

Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?

On the wall of my office is a beautiful coastal view of the County Cork coastline with the phrase "Surround yourself with positive people who work hard, enjoy life, are kind and decent and get things done." I think that sums it up for me.

What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?

I think Revolut is shaking up the banking sector. I really like what personal mobility companies like Lime are doing in terms of mobility options in European cities. I think Netflix has revolutionised the media sector. I also see advanced thinking in innovative technologies like drone delivery with companies like Manna, founded by an Irish entrepreneur Bobby Healy.

How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?

I think success has to be looked at in the long term. Short-term success, which is not sustained, is a failure in the long term.