Having just discovered this forum there's so much I want to say, but I'll refrain from rambling. It's indeed great news that CODA is partnering with Balfour Beatty, and I hope with their experience they can indeed attract different airlines because with a diverse airline choice comes stability for the airport. To those who argue that Derry's just a minor airport we have to look at Shannon and Cork, with between 2-4million pa. Ok we're not going to get that much but there's definitely room for expansion.
What really angered me was RE's careless attempt at expansion in March, with little advertising and near daily flights to destinations. With less frequent flights to Edinburgh and Manchester they could indeed have been viable. I would have thought maybe the return of a Bristol route from RE would have been sustainable since Ryanair had c.44k pa when they operated. More that sufficient for a turbo prop fleet.
In regards to Conor Murphy saying an Airport requires 10m passengers for a rail link, I can only laugh! Birmingham where I study Transport Management, has an Airport that in the past used to be just slightly busier than Aldergrove, however it has a train station, a busy one at that, and has been profitable for 20 years... The airport has yet to meet 10m pa.
One thing we should be proud of though is Derry will soon have a dual carriageway to its airport, thats better than Aldergrove. With the introduction of Dual Carriageways to Aughnacloy and Dungiven this airports sphere of influence can only increase.
As for whether Flybe shall come... Derry is now set to be UK City of Culture, people from the rest of the UK will come, Flybe proudly boasts it's the UK's regional airliner... well it best set up shop in the UK City of Culture.