City of Derry Airport bosses: we will continue to work to bring in new routes
City of Derry Airport bosses say they will continue to fight to bring new routes to the airport.
It follows the announcement that Ryanair will stop its London Stansted route from the local airport from April 2017.
Ryanair are also scrapping the route to Faro in Portugal.
Roy Devine, Chairman of CoDA Operations Ltd, which runs the airport said the reduced Ryanair programme was ‘clearly disappointing news’ for the airport.
“The Airport Board and management have been anticipating changes to the Ryanair services from Derry following the decision by Ryanair in 2015 to commence services from Belfast International Airport and had commenced planning at that time for such an outcome.”
Mr Devine also advised that the Airport Board was actively engaging with the NI Executive and had met with the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness MLA, on a number of occasions in recent months to discuss support for securing new carriers and new routes and to assist with securing the airport’s future.
He added that an announcement is expected to be made regarding those discussions shortly.
Clive Coleman, the RCA Contracts Director, and representative of the management company at the Airport, confirmed that he had informed staff of this news and that he would continue to engage with staff to update them as the situation evolves over the coming months.
He confirmed that there are no anticipated job losses because of this reduction in services, as the airport needs to retain its highly skilled workforce as it plans and prepares for possible replacement operators in the near future.
“City of Derry Airport is a regional airport and we need to focus on attracting regional airlines to serve the needs of our core catchment,” he said.
Mr Coleman advised that between now and 25 March 2017 Ryanair will continue to operate:
- 6 weekly services to London Stansted
- 5 weekly services to Glasgow International and
- 5 weekly services to Liverpool.
Mr Coleman concluded by encouraging all travellers within the local catchment to think about flight options from their local airport when making future travel arrangements, asking air passengers to “Think Local and Choose CoDA” whenever they can.
“We have fantastic facilities on our doorstep and it is essential that everyone takes advantage of this airport for their travel plans when possible,” he concluded.