Donegal Airport
Encyclopedia
Donegal Airport is located 2 NM south-west of An Bun Beag (Bunbeg), being located at Carrickfinn, a townland
Townland
A townland or bally is a small geographical division of land used in Ireland. The townland system is of Gaelic origin—most townlands are believed to pre-date the Norman invasion and most have names derived from the Irish language...

 in The Rosses
The Rosses
The Rosses is a geographical and social region in the west of County Donegal, Ireland, centred around the town of Dungloe, which acts as the educational, shopping and civil centre for the area...

, a district in north-west County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. The small airport is located right on the county's north-west coast. It is about a 15 minute drive from Dungloe
Dungloe
Dungloe is a Gaeltacht town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is the main town in the Rosses and the largest in the Donegal Gaeltacht...

 and Gweedore
Gweedore
Gweedore is an Irish-speaking district located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. Gweedore stretches some 16 miles from Meenaclady in the north to Crolly in the south and around 9 miles from Dunlewey in the east to Magheraclogher in the west, and...

 and 45 minutes (in 'good weather') from Letterkenny
Letterkenny
Letterkenny , with a population of 17,568, is the largest town in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. The town is located on the River Swilly...

. It is popularly known within County Donegal as Carrickfinn Airport.

Until the mid 1980s, the runway was a grass strip. This was replaced by a hard surface runway with temporary buildings. The airport started operations in 1986 and was developed with funds and assistance from the Government of Ireland, private investors, Donegal County Council, the International Fund for Ireland
International Fund for Ireland
The International Fund for Ireland is an independent international organisation established in 1986 by the British and Irish governments with the objectives of promoting "economic and social advance and to encourage contact, dialogue and reconciliation between nationalists and unionists throughout...

 and the European Regional Development Fund
European Regional Development Fund
The European Regional Development Fund is a fund allocated by the European Union.-History:During the 1960s, the European Commission occasionally tried to establish a regional fund. Only Italy ever supported this, however, and nothing came of it. Britain made it an issue for their accession in...

. In the 1990s the runway was extended to 1500 m (4,921.3 ft) and a new terminal
Airport terminal
An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from aircraft....

 building with modern navigational aid
Navigational aid
A navigational aid is any sort of marker which aids the traveler in navigation; the term is most commonly used to refer to nautical or aviation travel...

s and equipment was added.

Aer Arann
Aer Arann
Aer Arann is a regional airline based in Dublin, Ireland. Aer Arann operates scheduled services from Ireland and the Isle of Man to destinations in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and France, with a fleet of 18 aircraft. Aer Arann has expanded from a single aircraft to Ireland's third largest airline...

 remains the only scheduled airline currently using the airport. They receive public service obligation
Public Service Obligation
In transport, public service obligation or PSO is an arrangement in which a governing body or other authority offers an auction for subsidies, permit the winning company a monopoly to operate a specified service of public transport for a specified period of time for the given subsidy...

 funding from the Irish Government
Irish Government
The Government of Ireland is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland.-Members of the Government:Membership of the Government is regulated fundamentally by the Constitution of Ireland. The Government is headed by a prime minister called the Taoiseach...

 to subsidise the route to Dublin, a contract that was renewed in 2008. On 21 February 2007, the Irish Government announced that it would be giving
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

3.8 million to the airport in capital grant money.

VLM Airlines
VLM Airlines
VLM Airlines is a Belgian airline whose head office is in Airport Building B50 at Antwerp International Airport in Deurne, Antwerp...

 operate seasonal charter flights to Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

 between April and September every year.
Aer Arann announced in June, 2009 that it would be providing new connections to Cork from Donegal Airport via Dublin Airport. This was since dropped in March 2010 when Aer Arann reduced their Cork-Dublin service to once-daily (except Saturdays).

In February 2010, it was announced that Aer Arann would be suspending services between Carrickfinn and Glasgow Prestwick, and re-launching the service from Carrickfinn to Glasgow International
Glasgow International Airport
Glasgow International Airport is an international airport in Scotland, located west of Glasgow city centre, near the towns of Paisley and Renfrew in Renfrewshire...

 at Abbotsinch.

Intermittently, non-scheduled helicopter flights to service a variety of (mobile) offshore hydrocarbon installations use the airport. This service is likely to expand in the future, requiring additions to the passenger-processing areas, technical and hangar services.

Loganair will begin Services to Dublin and Glasgow international on November 2 2011 with
Saab 340s. The Dublin route will operate twice daily and will be subsidized by the Irish Government.

Airlines and destinations

Note: denotes charter airlines and their destinations
|The airport from a distance.

Airport data

  • Traffic permitted: Instrument flight rules
    Instrument flight rules
    Instrument flight rules are one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other are visual flight rules ....

    /Visual flight rules
    Visual flight rules
    Visual flight rules are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minimums, as specified in the rules of the...

  • Strength Pavement Classification Number
    Pavement Classification Number
    The Pavement Classification Number is an International Civil Aviation Organization standard used in combination with the Aircraft Classification Number to indicate the strength of a runway, taxiway or airport ramp...

     (PCN): 21/F/B/X/T
  • Tower Frequency: 129.80 MHz
    Hertz
    The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....

  • Navigational Aids: Non-directional beacon
    Non-directional beacon
    A non-directional beacon is a radio transmitter at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. As the name implies, the signal transmitted does not include inherent directional information, in contrast to other navigational aids such as low frequency radio range, VHF...

     (NDB) 361 kHz "CFN", Distance measuring equipment
    Distance Measuring Equipment
    Distance measuring equipment is a transponder-based radio navigation technology that measures distance by timing the propagation delay of VHF or UHF radio signals....

     (DME) 110.3 MHz "IFN", Localizer
    Localizer
    In aviation, a localizer is one of the components of an Instrument Landing System , and it provides runway centerline guidance to aircraft. In some cases, a course projected by localizer is at an angle to the runway . It is then called a Localizer Type Directional Aid...

    LLZ 110.3 MHz "IFN"
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