THE chairman and Managing Director of Donegal Airport met with Department of Transport Officials in Dublin today to further express concerns over the revised timetable.
The new timetable, which takes effect from March 29 under the new PSO contract on the Donegal-Dublin route, will see the abolition of the afternoon flights from and to Dublin.
Further to this, the aircraft will no longer be based in Donegal overnight.
In a statement following the meeting, Donegal Airport said: “We further referenced the success of the existing flight times as evidenced in the 2025 activity figures, and the very serious detrimental impact that any changes to these would have on service users.
“We also shared with the Department our strong belief that the new flight times out of Dublin in the morning and back to Dublin at night offered little commercial rationale.
“The Department advised that they had no option but to accept the tender as submitted given the procurement rules for that type of tender, and advised that they had not been in a position to engage with the airport during the tender process due to confidentiality requirements.”
Department Officials confirmed they are now engaging on an ongoing basis with the airline to discuss alternatives to the planned timetable, including reinstating the overnighting of the aircraft at Donegal Airport and the afternoon flight rotations.
“The Department anticipate concluding this process within the next two weeks approximately, at which time they will be in a position to make a considered recommendation to the Minister.
“The Board of Donegal Airport await the outcome of the engagement between the Department of Transport and the Airline, and are hopeful that a satisfactory resolution will be reached in the short term which will facilitate the reinstatement of a timetable which has consistently met the needs of the airport users.”
The airport board has acknowledged the huge groundswell of support it has have had since mid-January when the proposed changes came to light.
“The Board wishes to acknowledge the range of political, community organisation and general public support that has been so evident during this time.
“We want to express our sincere thanks to you all for continuing to highlight the importance of this service to so many users across Donegal. We will, with your support, continue to make the argument for the reinstatement of the services that the users need,” added the statement.
