Thursday, May 24, 2007
City of Derry Airport provisionally closed due to safety concerns
The BBC report that the City of Derry Airport will close from midnight tonight following a decision by the Civil Aviation Authority to “provisionally suspend its license following an inspection this week.” They’ve cited the “lack of an effective bird control plan, unsuitable temporary repairs to the area where planes park and poor runway drainage.” The airport, owned by Derry City Council, was last in the news in December 2006 when it lost a two-year battle against a Freedom of Information request.. And there’s an intriguing, if worrying, reference to “variations to safety regulations” in the Airport’s statement [see their news section - Ed].
Negotiations continued into the evening of Thursday 24th May 2007 between City of Derry Airport and the CAA with the final outcome being an immediate meeting in London on Friday to review the situation. The City of Derry Airport has operated under agreed variations with the CAA for the past number of years pending the commencement of the safety works.
And from the Airport’s own history
It wasn’t until 1978 that Derry City Council took the decision to purchase the airfield with a view to improving the transport infrastructure for the North West of Ireland. At the time this was a very forward-thinking decision especially since there were no airlines operating to the airfield and most of the airfield property had reverted to local landowners.
Over the intervening years the airport has slowly developed. Loganair introduced the first scheduled flight between Derry and Glasgow in 1979, a service, which still operates today. This route was the only route for ten years until British Airways introduced a daily Manchester service in 1989.
The Council gradually acquired most of the airfield property, however by the late 1980’s it became evident that the airport needed major investment if it was ever to achieve the potential envisaged in 1978. The Council applied for grant aid from the European Regional Development Fund and a major redevelopment programme was undertaken from 1989 to 1993. A total of £10.5 million was spent upgrading all of the facilities at the airport with 75% grant aid coming from Europe and 25% coming from Derry City Council. This programme upgraded runways, taxiways, access roads, navigation equipment and runway lighting, with the centerpiece being a new purpose-built terminal and fire station.
The programme was completed early in 1994 and the new terminal was officially opened in March of that year. The name of the airport was officially changed form Eglinton to the City of Derry Airport. At that time there were still only two scheduled routes carrying approximately 40,000 passenger per year. With the completion of the physical work the emphasis switched to route development and the search for new carriers.
Pete Baker @ 08:39 PM
For crying out loud!
Den Haag (seat of government, etc: 600,000 population) and Oslo (capital city: 550,000 population) are not in the same league as ‘Derry (population some 90,000, though with a big hinterland).
Nor is the issue here the railway line. On that issue I am with John Hubbard @ 08:51 PM and anybody else: it must be preserved and upgraded. NI is one of the few geographic entities where three airports are potentially inter-connected by rail. And that’s apart from all the other advantages of rail (which are not applicable to this thread. However, if only the link to Enniskillen and the Lakeland could be redeemed!)
For the record, Carrickfinn has a narrow 1500m runway, used only by Aer Arann: Eglinton is 1850m. Eglinton is not a perfect location (especially in a northerly gale), but can handle modern passenger jets and freight.
Can we not agree that the potential of an airport for the north-west must be preserved and enhanced? That the previous hostile contributions (Lagansiders in the main) to this thread indicate a massive prejudice against it? That, despite hostility from Belfast and London, over thirty years the ‘Derry Council (with the support of all parties) have done a decent job?
And, yes to all three of the previous contributors, a balanced transport policy is an ideal. And, please God!, is more likely with the Assembly than without.
I never thought that I’d end up PRing any cause!
Posted by on May 26, 2007 @ 09:02 PMWho is responsible for this mess?
If the City Council have shown over the years to be incompetent then the government should transfer powers to a Commission in the hope of an improvement and in the meantime one or two sackings would be in order.Posted by on May 26, 2007 @ 09:10 PMconfused @ 10:10 PM”
[1] Define precisely “this mess”.
[2] What’s wrong with devolution?
[3] Which “government” appoints what “Commission” (interesting and anti-democratic use of differential capitalisation there!)?
[4] What “improvement” is part of said “Commission“‘s involvement?
[5] As for “sackings”, who did what wrongly?
Posted by on May 26, 2007 @ 09:22 PMThe mess--------An airport which is closed for safety reasons
Nothing wrong with devolution
government that which is sovereign and accepts responsibility
Improvement can be seen when the airport is open and operating within acceptable safety parameters
Sackings refer to those who brought about this mess in the first place
Posted by on May 26, 2007 @ 09:38 PMconfused @ 10:38 PM
Ah, just mouthing off.
[1] Please review the reasons for the closure. They were drainage from the runway, temporary repairs to the hard-standing, and scaring off birds. The term “acceptable safety parameters” was not used, and implies something much more serious.
[2] Doubtless, with unlimited funding, all these problems could have been avoided. Are those who denied the finance the ones who “brought about this mess in the first place”?
Bottom line: I totally approve of having a regulator, independent of g/Government, which can devise and enforce regulations. I also wish to see those regulations enforced, not quibbled over for factional, party, commercial or regional advantage.
[3] As for “government that which is sovereign and accepts responsibility”, when in British history (apart from Alfred’s culinary disaster, when he was not sovereign over even a marsh) did that whole-heartedly last happen?
Posted by on May 26, 2007 @ 10:04 PMMalcolm
You appear to have missed the key references, <a herf="http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/this-has-been-a-huge-inconvenience-to-our-customers/">pointed to in the update</a>
In particular, in relation to the closure, the blame and the funding is the charge of a “systematic failure of safety management”
That, together with the allowed operation “under agreed variations [to safety regulations] with the CAA” would seem to be the reason why the CAA eventually lost patience with the City Of Derry Airport.
Posted by on May 26, 2007 @ 10:18 PMmalcom
The last point you make suggests a political viewpoint which you hold and is not relevant to this discussion and also displays an ignorance of history.
Posted by on May 26, 2007 @ 10:30 PMconfused @ 11:30 PM
For crying out loud! Expliquez! S’il vous plait!
The entirety of my contribution to this thread (please, please review it) has been aimed at achieving a fact-based, objective argument on one assumption: that Aldergrove may be the regional hub, but it cannot in the middle- and long-term provide the facilities needed for the whole Province.
So, I beg you to state precisely:
[1] wherein I have been irrelevant to the discussion; and
[2] (more personally a worry) how I may improve my knowledge of history.Posted by on May 26, 2007 @ 11:04 PMThe way things are going means fewer airports, not more! Airlines of the future will serve only those places which cannot be served by rail. If people in 2027 want to travel from L’Derry (or Donegal) to Dublin or Cork they will do so in the train. If they want to drive, they will pay exorbitant tolls and taxes for the privilege. The same applies to freight. Flying to mainland UK will be a very expensive luxury - most people will go by fast ferry and then take a fast train to their destination. Monies spent in upgrading tiny regional airports to CAA standards would be better spent upgrading the rail network. The sooner we start the better.
Posted by on May 27, 2007 @ 06:26 AMFor crying out loud[/i. NI is one of the few geographic entities where three airports are potentially inter-connected by rail.
For crying out loud! Have you ever visited the Netherlands? All the main airports are linked directly with the rail network. That means you can walk from the plane to the train with luggage. There are trains to everywhere in the country every 30 minutes. Timetables are almost unnecessary. We could do something similar in Ireland which links the main cities with Belfast, Dublin, Cork, maybe Galway. But it is not so sexy as a little airport at Eglinton which the 90,000 inhabitants of Foyleside can call its own. Of course it will be paid for, mainly, by Thames-siders or even Lagan-siders. How easy it is to spend other people’s money!
Posted by on May 27, 2007 @ 06:39 AMMalcolm:
[3] There clearly is a customer base: on the occasions I have used the route, it has been heavily patronised, including the hordes from Donegal. Demand can only grow.
If there’s a clear customer base then let’s privatize it and stop propping it up with public money. Agreed ?
[4] Surely Aldergrove would be better as the “international” airport it claims to be (but has not yet fulfilled). Eglinton is more a regional airport.
What do you mean, “not yet fulfilled” ? A significant proportion of flights out of Aldergrove are outside of the UK.
[5] If we are going to argue “45 minutes” of transfer time as a factor, can we not well be rid of “George Best”?
Belfast City airport is privately run and is extremely popular. This has a lot to do with the fact that there is a population and commercial base to support it. Clearly you can’t build airports near every little conurbation there is.
Anyway, there is a rail link, well worthy of upgrading, that links Eglinton, Aldergrove and Belfast centre.
John Hubbard also made a related comment.
The Derry-Belfast railway line should be upgraded, but also properly run. Building or upgrading stations and track is all very well, but Translink will require a subsidy to operate loss-making services on it. That’s the part of the plan that our politicians aren’t prepared to confront.
Posted by on May 27, 2007 @ 10:35 AMIf Belfast warrants an airport even with good rail and bus links to Dublin then surely so does Derry, just as Cork and Farranfore can happily coexist.
Similarly rail links between Dublin and Limerick are unrecognisable from only a few years ago yet there is no chance of Shannon disappearing
Let’s not discriminate against the provincial airports, not in Derry nor in Belfast nor elsewhere. There’s far too much centralisation as it is.
Posted by on May 27, 2007 @ 01:39 PMI propose another new name for City of Derry / Eglinton Airport that takes us away from the whole Londonderry Derry debate. What about Mickey Mouse Airport?
What the events of the weekend have proved is that we don’t need an airport in the North West, Gay Byrne’s bike shed notwithstanding. I was a supporter of the airport (being a rate payer and all) I bought all the stuff about inward investment west of the Bann etc. Where is it and how does the airport support it?
Posted by on May 30, 2007 @ 11:02 AM
