City of Derry Airport - The Future

The Future

The recently completed runway safety zone extension and apron works has allowed the CAA to lift the capacity restriction on aircraft operating out of the airport. This has increased seat availability and passenger throughput at the airport. It has also enabled Ryanair to establish their first international route from the airport to Alicante. Also announced was a new charter flight to Burgas in Bulgaria to be operated by BH Air. The Burgas flight will not operate for summer 2011 as PAX numbers for 2010 were not as expected.

In April 2009 the council issued tender documents for a multi-million pound expansion of the terminal to improve passenger flow and meet current EU customs and immigration regulations. The arrivals hall has recently been improved and tax free shopping, WHSmith and the Amelia Earhart Business lounge in the departure area are open during operational hours.

In mid-2009 work commenced on dualling the A2 from Maydown to Eglinton and the airport, which now provides a high speed dual carriageway connection to the city. This project was intended to be the first of several schemes including the "A5 dualling Derry to Aughnacloy " planned to commence in 2012 and the "A6 dualling Dungiven to Derry" due to commence in 2013. It is projected that these schemes will greatly increase the catchment area for the airport rendering it a viable alternative to Northern Ireland's two other main airports.

The Belfast to Derry single track railway line of Northern Ireland Railways crosses the tip of the runway at the North Eastern end. Safety systems ensure that no train can pass when aircraft are taking off or landing.

2010 saw the commencement of a new route to Faro with Ryanair, the airport's second scheduled international destination. Routes were also announced to Edinburgh and Manchester with Aer Arann, however due to lower than expected public demand the routes have been suspended until market conditions are more favourable. The Irish Government ceased to subsidise the Derry-Dublin route from July 2011 and it was closed.

The airport is to develop further Ryanair routes from the airport to European cities such as Barcelona, Paris, Frankfurt and Milan. In addition discussions are under way with a third operator about re-establishing flights to Bristol and, possibly, into one of the business hubs in London such as Gatwick or Heathrow.

As of April 2010, it has been reported that the airport has emerged from passenger recession, with passenger numbers released for February of the same year showing an increase over that of the same period for the year before. This increase is reported as 562 passengers and however modest this may appear, it has been further reported that the first flights for Faro began fully booked.

A report by Ilex-URC in September 2010, pointed out that there is intentions to grow and increase the number of scheduled routes out of the airport from 7 as of 2010, to 10 by 2015, and 15 by 2020.