Members of Sligo Airport's board have said they are satisfied its future is secure after the announcement that Aer Arann is to take over the Dublin-Sligo service fol lowing Aer Lingus's pull-out.
Aer Arann will use smaller 36-seater aircraft on the route instead of Aer Lingus's 50-seater planes, but overall capacity will increase as there will be two flights daily instead of one.
Business people, in particular, will be facilitated with the new flight times as passengers will be able to fly into Sligo in the morning and return to Dublin that evening. Flights will leave Dublin at 9.55 a.m. and 3 p.m. and depart from Sligo at 11.10 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. The flight time is 40 minutes.
A representative of the Chamber of Commerce on the board of Sligo Airport, Mr Jim Lawlor, said it would be of particular benefit that someone could now leave London or a number of other European cities, catch an early-morning flight to Dublin, spend the day in Sligo and return home the same day.
For people from the northwest who would like to fly to Dublin and return the same day, the service will not be significantly improved, as the maximum time they would have in the capital is three hours.
Mr Lawlor pointed out, however, that Aer Arann intends to run three flights a day in the summer months and it would also have more flexibility than Aer Lingus to increase flights at busy times such as Christmas.
With an electronic ticketing system, Sligo passengers will still be able to get boarding cards for onward flights from Dublin, and the automatic baggage transfer will continue.
The chairman of the board, Cllr Matt Lyons, said he was disappointed to see Aer Lingus withdraw but the Aer Arann service would open up new opportunities.
Aer Arann already operates the service between Dublin and Carrickfin Airport in Co Donegal, and has linked up with nearby hotels to offer weekend packages and off-peak short breaks. It is intended to do the same in Sligo.
Mr Lawlor said the withdrawal of Aer Lingus had been seen as inevitable because of the changes in the national airline. It has already disposed of two of its six Fokker 50 planes and is moving towards having an all-jet fleet.
Aer Lingus still operates scheduled services to Galway and Kerry, but unlike Sligo and Galway, Kerry has the capacity to take jets. Sligo Airport's location beside Strandhill beach and the proximity of Knocknarea mountain limit the possibility of expanding the runway.
"We do not see ourselves competing with Knock. It is an international airport. We see ourselves as a regional, domestic commuter airport operating on a smaller base," Mr Lawlor said.
He said he was satisfied with the allocation in the National Development Plan for regional airports, and said the development of an enterprise park at the airport would ensure that in the long term the airport was income-generating. The Sligo Airport company hopes eventually to build a 20,000 sq ft advance factory on the site, and a number of smaller units have already been sold.