Introduction
It is the home of the Sligo Aero Club (a Registered Training Facility) and the northwest base for the Irish Coastguard. Helicopters fly from here to respond to distress calls and the area is commonly used by the Irish Coast Guard for training. Private flight training, skydiving and charity jumps are all operated from the airport.
A current safety concern surrounds the fact that the runway is currently several feet underwater in Sligo Bay. In addition, the peninsula upon which the airport is situated is less than 2 km (1.2 mi) long. In 2003, a Euroceltic Airways Fokker F27 aircraft carrying the band Aslan overshot the runway and the nose dipped into the sea. The accident caused no casualties.
Euroceltic were operating the Government of Ireland public service obligation subsidy scheme for the route to Dublin at the time. The airline collapsed shortly afterwards and Aer Arann operated the route for the remainder of the contract. The 2005 contract tender was offered to Loganair who declined it. Aer Arann subsequently negotiated the operation of the contract with the Government.
On 21 February 2007, The Irish Government announced that it would be giving €8.5 million to the airport in capital grant money to upgrade the runway and add approach lighting and safety enhancements. However the proposed runway extension would have required infill and the erection of gantries across part of the adjacent protected beach. The plan drew much local criticism and almost 400 objections from local area residents, fisheries groups, Dept of Environment, An Taisce and Birdwatch Ireland. The planning permission was quashed on the third attempt by a high court judge on justification grounds.
Until the end of 2008 there was a connection with Manchester which was operated by Aer Arann. In a further blow to the airport the airport lost its only scheduled route to/from Dublin after the Irish Government withdrew funding for regional routes including Sligo, the route ended July 21, 2011.
The Irish Government commissioned Value for Money Review of Exchequer Funding on the Regional Airports Programme recommended the ending of operational subvention to the airport and the ending of the PSO designation citing poor performance, growing operational costs and development of alternative transport connections to the region.
Read more about this topic: Sligo Airport
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