Why is it a vital link if it gives Derry Worldwide connections but not connecting Derry to the UK? What the majority of citizens in the NW want from their local REGIONAL airport is connections to a range of UK airports and on the odd occasion where they are looking to fly further afield they would be more than happy to make the journey to either BFS or DUB. Like I said Derry is unlike most other UK cities due to our geographical location and the fact that it does not have suitable infrastructure in the form of roads or railway makes the airport a vital link to access the rest of the UK without the journey taking up a full day.

What exactly is the issue with the road(s) from Belfast direction to Derry? What is it, apart from distance, that makes it so difficult from people up there to travel Belfast direction? I have used the roads many times, I do not understand that issue. Please enlighten me. We have distance. Many people drive far further to get to an airport than Derry to Belfast. Roads are busy. All roads seem to be busy now. What is it that I am missing and others too?

The road infrastructure West of the Bann is substandard. Stormont only invests in Belfast but notions of Belfast being a major city etc ring hollow when you see it hasn't even got a motorway to the 2nd city in Northern Ireland. Sectarian discrimination may have seemed to some a sensible policy at one time but years later just looks like an embarrassing backwards shambles.

West of the Bann requires £2 billion to be spent on the roads. The economy of Northern Ireland needs £10 billion of subvention from Westminster each year. It is not possible to reduce this by growth pole development in one city while ignoring the rest of the province.

Northern Ireland needs balanced regional development for all parts and for both communities. This is actually more in the Unionist's interests than it actually is in the Nationalist's interests but the Unionist parties don't seem to be able to see it.

This fails to grasp the scale of the infrastructural problem.

The airport loses £2 million per year. The roads West of the Bann (A6, A5, A2) need £2 billion.

The airport would be shut a thousand years before the savings could pay for a road.

Derry~Londonderry would likely have a spaceport before then.

It's a single track road. Are you foreal? In this day and age?

Single track don't remember having to pull over to let a car past traveling the opposite direction last time I travelled it 😂

The road may not be a five lane highway, but nor would it prevent anyone making a reasonably efficient journey to Belfast, to an airport, if needs be. Like previous poster said, I have never had to pull in to let a car coming in the opposite direction past. Compared to others areas, I don't think your situation is that bad and not that bad that you could not get to another airport. Nor do I think the roads in the North West are much worse than anywhere else and I have used them. I have plenty of very poor roads around me. Still does not get away from the fact that the airport is wasting money.

I knew your post would be wonderful, and you haven't let me down! Ballymena, a one horse town, has a dual carriageway to the M2. It has an extension of the M2 skirting its western edge, and last I had the misfortune of being in the area the A26 to that other metropolis, Coleraine, was being dualled. Compare. Contrast.

As for the airport being a waste of money. I assume you haunt other forums and news outlets bemoaning all the other rate and taxpayers' money being wasted in NI.

Sorry but this is not the case and you know it. Larne and Ballymena both have Dual Carriageway to Belfast, they all have a small population compared to Derry.

Coleraine is also not too far off a Dual Carriageway just outside Ballymoney. I am sure that will be dualed soon.

That I am not denying. The question I ask is, is the road that bad that it makes it difficult to get to a Belfast airport? If it is, please give the exact reasons why, the fact that it is not a highway is not one.

Cuthere, can you ever address anyone in a pleasant manner, or do you specialise in being nasty? One day, it will catch up with you, living life in such a way. You will eventually find out that life is short.

Roads west of the bann in bad shape, you should see the ones east of it as well

But why should we have two airports in such close proximity to eachother BFS & BHD serving the East and then have nothing serving the West. You have to remember that 40% of CODA traffic comes from donegal with many having to travel 2.5/3 hours to reach BFS & BHD.

Capacity for a Dual Carriageway on a Single Carriageway is grounds for traffic and tailbacks.

Trueblue, when I see the same people making the same vacuous arguments over and over and over again over years and years, I can't help but come across as irked. Instead of banging on about LDY and the £2m it loses a year, or the modest subvention, perhaps direct your ire at the £500m RHI balls-up which has gone quiet, or just bring yourself to admit, it'll be cathartic, that the west and northwest of Northern Ireland have been neglected, discriminated against and treated unfairly for decades. Now, that might go against your pronciples, but the truth is the truth. LDY is the least the people of the NW deserve and it's a damn shame that the airport put all its eggs in the FR basket years ago.

And to answer your other question, You clearly have not tried to get from LDY to BFS on a Friday evening, or Monday morning. The number of flights I have nearly missed because of tractors, freight lorries etc. Because you've had one or two good runs on the road does not make you an expert. An excellent example is the 212 from Derry to Belfast. It used to be scheduled to take 1hr 40. It's now scheduled by Translink to take between 1hr 50 and two hours. The road is NOT fit for purpose.

Indeed I would agree for Donegal folk it can be a long drive to the Belfast airports, but many of us, including those from Donegal / Derry will drive to Dublin to catch a flight

The entire population of NI is within two hours of BHD/BFS, so they serve the nation as a whole.

It is completely unreasonable to operate a loss-making airport just to keep a few locals happy. If they want to be close to an airport, then move to the East of the province.

Realistically there should only be 1 airport given that NI has a population of under 2 million. The fact that there are two in Belfast and one in Derry is ridiculous - talk about inefficiencies within the market...

If the people of Donegal are complaining, then they should tell the Irish government to expand their own airport. It's not Northern Ireland's responsibility to provide Donegal's transport links.

And people in Belfast will drive 20 mins to get to BFS.

I'd agree three is too many airports, so the closing of BHD and leaving BFS to service the East and CODA the West sounds perfectly reasonable to me ? The fact you've stated that CODA is staying open to keep a few locals shows your total and complete ignorance of the both the people and population of the NW of Ireland. Regarding Carrickfinn airport I have a property directly under the flight path and 5 minutes from the airport and I'm not to sure if your familiar with the area but the roads to the airport are hideous to say the least and the airport can therefore not service a large section of the Donegal population with Derry being the closest option.

Greencastle - Carrickfinn 2 hr 1 min
Greencastle - CODA 42mins

Donegal is in a different jurisdiction so the road quality over there is not our problem to sort out.

The population of Donegal is also almost a half of our county so it's not surprising that they have feable road infrastructure.