Even with new carriers or even new routes (Manchester) passenger figures at CODA are bound to take a hammering. Ryanair mightn't have been the right fit but they did fly big aircraft and they did like them full. Is a new carrier going to offer 120K seats to London. Or 60K to Glasgow. When Loginair flew the route it carried 1/5th that. It looks like it could be some time before CODA gets back to 439,000 pax p.a.
Economist Paul Gosling on Radio Foyle said the writing has been on the wall for the past 3 years, not because of passenger numbers at Derry on a route that has been run successfully for nearly 2 decades, but because Ryanair have changed their focus from regional airports to the main airports.