Kerry Airport

History

Kerry Airport was incorporated as a public limited company in July 1968 with its main objective of building and managing an airport at Farranfore. Various share capital fund raising programmes were undertaken and together with great assistance from the various statutory bodies over the years, the airport has developed from a runway of 1,090 metres x 23 metres commissioned in 1969 to a runway of 1,239m x 30m commissioned in 1989 and a new runway of 2,000m x 45m was opened in May 1994.

On 25 August 1969 the first aircraft to land at Kerry Airport was piloted by Captain Milo Carr of the Department of Transport & Power. For a number of years the only aircraft using the aerodrome were light private aircraft and the occasional charter or cargo flight and also extensive parachuting took place. The first scheduled service was inaugurated in July 1979 using an islander aircraft operated by Aer Arann.

Encouraged by the apparent success of other regional airports in Ireland, the board of directors drew up a development plan to lengthen and widen the runway to 1,200m x 30m and to extend and upgrade the Terminal Buildings and to install an Instrument Landing System and appropriate lighting.

The runway was completed on schedule and the first scheduled flight into Kerry was on 22 May 1989 from Dublin by Aer Lingus followed the next day by Ryanair from London-Luton. On May 1993, the contract for the new runway of 2,000m x 45m and New Terminal was signed and the official "Sod Turning" was performed by An Tánaiste, Mr. Dick Spring TD.

The Runway 08/26 was licensed by the Irish Aviation Authority on 20 May 1994 and the first flight landed at 13:23 local time on 20 May. It was a PA28 aircraft registration G-BLSD from Manchester and was piloted by C.Gurley. This was followed by the first commercial flight by Aer Lingus, a Saab 340. Its registration was EI-CFD and it was commanded by Captain Peter Heinz.

The airport is a public limited company (PLC) but not quoted on any stock exchange. It had an operating profit of €179,329 in 2009 on a turnover of €6,252,221. This represented a fall of 32% from the previous financial year. Operating profit for the year 2015 was €30,980.

In January 2011, it was announced that 20 of the airport's 65 staff would be made redundant due to a fall in passenger numbers following Ryanair's withdrawal from its PSO contract.

It was announced in February 2012, due to the codeshare agreement with Aer Lingus that the currently operated Dublin service with Aer Arann will be operated from 30 October 2012 under the brand Aer Lingus Regional. Aer Arann was later rebranded as Stobart Air. Passenger numbers on the Dublin route operated by Aer Lingus Regional, increased by 13.5% in 2014.

Government support

The Government of Ireland subvents regional services under a public service obligation programme. A tender is offered for airlines to provide a minimum level of service in return for subsidy and a monopoly of the route. The tender is published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Aer Arann were re-awarded the PSO for the 2005 offer programme but in 2008 it was awarded to Ryanair.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Kerry:

By Train

Iarnród Éireann's Farranfore railway station is located 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) to the south with services to Killarney, Tralee, Mallow, Cork, Limerick Junction and Dublin Heuston.

By Road

Kerry Airport is located on the N23 approximately 94 kilometres (58 mi) from Limerick and approximately 106 kilometres (66 mi) from Cork . Dublin is around 286 kilometres (178 mi) away from the airport. The N22 connects Tralee and Killarney where the N23 joins up with. Car Rental services at Kerry Airport are located in the Long Term Car Park, with Avis, Budget, Hertz, Europcar and CARHIRE.ie offering services. Kerry Airport also offers taxis from directly outside the terminal entrance.

By Bus

An airport bus terminal opened in January 2006. Services from Kerry Airport to Abbeyfeale/Adare, Castleisland, Cork, Dublin, Farranfore, Galway, Killarney, Limerick and Tralee.