SLIGO
 

Runway extension has run into trouble with the locals. Was meant to go 270m east into the mudflats. This airport was the scene of Euroceltic's overrun.

More here (free rego req.)
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independe...issue_id=15223

I must say Sligo is a great airport, I do some flying there with one of the Aero Clubs. With the setup of water and both ends of the runway and the mountain to throw some strange winds into the equation it makes for interesting flying! Nice to see the new route to Manchester though, may be the likes of FlyBE would fly into Sligo if they managed to get through the problems and extend the runway, even if they got an ILS onto 29.

If this thread hasn't gone completely dead...does anyone know what the pax numbers for 2010 were?

I haven't seen any confirmed pax numbers or any of the Irish regionals yet apart from Derry, which was slightly down on last year. Derry has been published beacuse it falls under the CAA jurisdiction of course.

The number of passengers through Sligo Airport for 11 months Jan-Nov 2010 was 19,780. So we could reasonably estimate that passenger numbers were just over 20,000 for the full year 2010.

Everything you ever wanted to know about passenger numbers and how much it costs you - the taxpayer - to support regional airports at this link HERE

It is just two pages long and gives a 6 year summary for:

Government grants to each airport for following:

1) Public Service Obligation (PSO) spend
2) Subsidy towards operational spending (OPEX)
3) Subsidy towards capital spending (CAPEX)

and

4) Passenger numbers

The big financial crash and its impact on Ireland were over 10 years ago. Is there any possibility of Sligo regaining scheduled flights again ?

Wouldn't hold your breath on that one. Sligo is a big enough city but it's not a lot more than two hours to drive to DUB – and the runway isn't long enough to take anything bigger than an ATR42.

Would be nice - its a cracker of a little airport but not likely. 2 hours to Dublin is a bit ambitious though - I'd say a good 3 (traffic permitting - or longer if you get behind something slow) - the main road after Mullingar has long stretches of single carriageway (some straight enough and fast to allow overtaking) but then you can get stuck at Carrick-on-Shannon. Cracking cafe at the airport terminal still does brisk business though :)

And is a bit too close to Knock Airport.
whatever about Sligo Airport, it is a real shame that Galway Airport wasn't viable. A great city beside it, that in my view has enormous potential as a great EU city break. The runway was only for smaller aircraft, I always thought if it has been big enough for a 737/320 the airport would still be operational.
But it suffered the same faith as SXL.

Anyway, that's a different topic.