The argument has become almost tautological. Leaving City of Derry airport out of the equation, the strategic or competitive advantage of having two airports within a twenty mile radius to serve a population of 1.5+mil is highly questionable. On the one side BHD has blossomed to the detriment of BFS, and that is probably, on the public face at least, because of a lack of strategic direction, imagination and vision by the local management at BFS; whether that was influenced by forces brought to bear by the previous Spanish owners is speculative, but with the change of ownership there now a real opportunity going forward to see what can be achieved.
The proposals announced today to enhance the Belfast-Dublin rail link does little to add to the fortunes of BFS. Two Belfast airports are not sustainable, and the competition argument is equally tenuous. Since NI is so fond of Inquiries, here is an issue that is well worthy of further investigation