Donegal Airport

Donegal Airport Aerfort Dhún na nGall
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IATA: CFN – ICAO: EIDL CFN Location of airport in Ireland
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Airports Donegal
Serves	County Donegal
Location	Carrickfinn
Elevation AMSL	30 ft / 9 m
Coordinates
Website	www.donegalairport.ie
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 03/21 1,496 4,908 Bitumen/Macadam
Statistics (2013)
Passengers 33,768 Passenger change 12–13 17.2%
Source: Irish AIS Passengers

Donegal Airport (Irish: Aerfort Dhún na nGall) (IATA: CFN, ICAO: EIDL) is located 2 NM (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) south-west of Bunbeg, being located at Carrickfinn, a townland in The Rosses, a district in north-west County Donegal, Ireland. The small airport is located right on the county's north-west coast. It is about a 15-minute drive from Dungloe and Gweedore and 45 minutes (in 'good weather') from Letterkenny. It is popularly known within County Donegal as Carrickfinn Airport.

History

Until the mid-1980s, the runway was a grass strip. This was replaced by a hard surface runway with temporary buildings. The airport started operations in 1986 and was developed with funds and assistance from the Government of Ireland, private investors, Donegal County Council, the International Fund for Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund. In the 1990s the runway was extended to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and a new terminal building with modern navigational aids and equipment was added.

Stobart Air, operating as Aer Lingus Regional, is the only scheduled airline currently using the airport. They receive public service obligation funding from the Irish Government to subsidise the route to Dublin, a contract that was awarded in 2014, and commenced on 1 March 2015. An ATR42-300 (reg nos. EI-CBK or EI-EHH) is the normal operational aircraft. The service was previously operated (2012 to 2015) by Loganair using a Saab 340 which rotated via Glasgow to provide aircraft and crew replenishment. Prior to Loganair, the service was operated by Aer Arann which has since been taken over by Stobart Air so the current operation effectively reverts to that. On 21 February 2007, the Irish Government announced that it would be giving €3.8 million to the airport in capital grant money.

CityJet operated a Saturday seasonal charter flight to Rotterdam between April and September using a Fokker 50 but his has not run in recent years. Aer Arann operated flights to Cork via Dublin in 2009 until they reduced their Cork-Dublin service to six times per week. The route closed in March 2010.

In February 2010, Aer Arann closed its service to Glasgow Prestwick Airport and relocated to Glasgow International Airport

Due to the large gas field in the area, non-scheduled chartered helicopter flights connect the multiple offshore installations to the airport. Eastern Airways operate a chartered service to Aberdeen for this. Their 50-seat Saab 2000 aircraft are the largest aircraft to be seen regularly at the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Aer Lingus Regional operated by Stobart Air	Dublin, Glasgow-International

Statistics

Passenger numbers

Year	Passengers Numbers	% Change
2008	65,539
2009	50,761	22.5%
2010	46,825	7.8%
2011	38,309	18.1%
2012	29,226	23.7%
2013	33,768	15.5%

Airport data

• Traffic permitted: Instrument flight rules/Visual flight rules
• Strength Pavement Classification Number (PCN): 21/F/B/X/T
• Tower Frequency: 129.80 MHz
• Navigational Aids: Non-directional beacon (NDB) 361 kHz "CFN", Distance measuring equipment (DME) 110.3 MHz "IFN", Localizer LLZ 110.3 MHz "IFN"

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Current weather for EIDL at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for CFN at Aviation Safety Network