City of Derry’s peak was in the late 2000s when it was seeing over 400,000 passengers a year. This was almost exclusively down to FR: 2x daily STN, complemented by LPL, BHX/EMA, PIK, FAO, and various others. At one point LTN and STN were operating simultaneously. So what’s my point here? Well, during this period when FR were clearing up all demand and monopolising not only routes, but access to whole regions, no other airline had a sniff. Then the financial crash occurred, and the rest, as they say, is history.
LM were doing a reasonable job of rebuilding connectivity and then C19 came along. Going forward Derry airport needs to look south for financial and other support. A lot of pax who use LDY originate in Donegal. Largely, that makes the A6 argument redundant for these people as for some NOC will be closer than BFS or BHD.