Absolutely great networking opportunity and of course we were only in the door for about five minutes before we started bumping in to former colleagues who were networking with other airlines and other companies. It is great to meet people that you haven’t seen in a while and make new connections as well, so (it is) a great opportunity.

The next twenty years are going to provide such an enormous opportunity for Ireland, for people working in aircraft financing in Ireland, aircraft lessors, lawyers, tax accountants, technical service providers. It is an extraordinary industry, it is global, it is very exciting, and Ireland is the leading force in this sector worldwide. Too often Irish people are afraid to pat themselves on the back. We are really good at what we do in this industry and these Awards are the absolute Oscars, if you like, of the Irish aviation industry once a year.

Everyone likes to celebrate their success and these kinds of Awards give airlines, companies and businesses the opportunity to celebrate that success and show the excellent job that they are doing in advancing our industry.

The Aviation Industry Awards night is a great night because we have our fellow leasing companies, we have our airline customers, all of the different service providers from maintenance to crew services we work with all year round. There are a number of things that Ireland are really good at, aviation is one of them. We are world leaders in aviation and it is important that we have events like this to recognise that contribution to Ireland and the wider economy.

I was delighted and the table was delighted. We were euphoric because there has been a lot of work going into this project and it has saved lives. The bottom dollar is that the citizens of Ireland are better off because of this project.

(Winning these awards) endorses everything - all the hard work that you do today. It does motivate people, encourages them to progress even further. We have already posted (our win) on our social media tonight, so we are getting a lot of feedback on our social media. We have had a lot of positive comments.

My table, all of my team were very happy to receive this award because we all worked a lot to get this award. It shows that the Irish aviation industry recognise Airbus as a major partner in Ireland.

I was thrilled, absolutely delighted! I’m delighted to represent DIT and all the students that have achieved the awards at DIT. It allows you a time to step back, look at what you are doing and to highlight the good things that you are doing.