Kerry Airport, at Farranfore, is a small but hugely important part of the local infrastructure in a county that is one of the jewels of Irish tourism.
The airport has been going about its growing business in an unobtrusive way. The smaller airports, of course, are swimming against the tide and to stay alive must be imaginative and groundbreaking.
Farranfore caught the public's attention once again recently when the first group of Kosovan refugees arrived there from the horrors they had been experiencing in their homeland. It made sense to fly them there because part of the group would be staying in Kerry, the other part at Drishane Castle Convent in nearby north Cork.
Kerry Airport, once only a local dream, on several occasions a dream that seemed unlikely to come true, has been battling on and getting there. Charles J. Haughey, always a friend of Kerry, performed the official opening in 1998 - it was more a new beginning for an already existing airport than an opening.
The former Labour Party leader and Tanaiste, Mr Dick Spring, an even better friend of Kerry - if in doubt, take a look at all the infrastructure that has been attracted to his home town of Tralee - worked behind the scenes to make it happen.
In 1993, he officiated at the extension to the runway. The road was a long one and there is more to be travelled. Kerry, though, has its airport.
For many years now, Kerry folk seeking sun holidays have had to make the journey from various parts of the county to Cork or Dublin in order to connect with flights. To an extent, they still have to but Ryanair services out of Farran fore, which have been extended, offer the opportunity to use the local airport as a feeder to liaise with foreign flights going to destinations served by that airline.
Aer Lingus, too, has increased its services, linking Kerry in the early morning with Dublin, and the other way around in the late evening. In 1997, some 120,000 people used the facility. By the following year, that figure had grown to 160,000 passengers, and this year, the projections are that there will be further growth.
At Kerry Airport, most of the development funds have gone into making Farranfore more aircraft friendly - namely, improving the landing facilities. But the growth in passenger numbers means something must be done to enhance the terminal building, enabling it to accommodate increased volume.
This project will cost an estimated £5 million. How is it to be funded? The local airport authority decided, somewhat controversially, that the best way to do so would be to introduce a £5 departure charge. Depending on whom one talks to, says Mr Des Donnelly, the commercial manager, people don't notice, don't mind or else understand why the charge is being levied.
The latest development plans have neither been finalised nor processed but they will go ahead and Kerry Airport will flourish - that's the hope.