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Ireland West Airport

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Ireland West Airport Knock (IATA: NOC, ICAO: EIKN) or Aerfort na Connacht in Irish, is located near Charlestown, County Mayo, Ireland. Passenger traffic was 621,171 in 2006.

The airport was formerly known as Knock International Airport, Connacht Regional Airport, and Horan International Airport

Connaught Aero Club is based at the airport.

History and landmark events

The Airport opened for flights on 20 May 1986 following a long campaign by Monsignor James Horan. The airport was intended to bring employment to an impoverished corner of Ireland, as well as allow pilgrims to visit the nearby Roman Catholic Knock Shrine which commemorates an apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1879.

In June 2003 hundreds of people gathered at Knock International Airport to view a Boeing 747 land with 500 returning pilgrims from Lourdes. The aircraft stood as high as the Airport's Air Traffic Control tower. It was the second of its type to land since the airport's establishment.

The airport was voted Ireland's best regional airport in 2004 and again in 2006 by the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland.

On 18 January 2005 Mrs Margaret Mary Hawksworth from Wilmslow, Cheshire became the 3 millionth passenger to have used the airport since it first opened in 1986 and arrived on a bmibaby flight from Manchester.

In Janaury 2007, the airport announced the commencement in May 2007 of scheduled transatlantic services to New York and Boston operated by Flyglobespan.

Airlines and destinations

MyTravelLite launched their Knock to Birmingham service in March 2003 and celebrated 100,000 passengers on the route in April 2004 but terminated the route in April 2005. In March 2004 bmibaby launched services to Manchester and East Midlands, the latter being terminated later. Aer Arann launched their Liverpool service in June 2004 and terminated in 2005 after losing the Dublin Public Service Obligation route. In January 2005 Ryanair and easyJet launched services from London Gatwick and bmibaby launched a service to Birmingham.

Flyglobespan will commence services in May 2007 from Ireland West Airport Knock to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport with three services a week, and Boston's Logan International Airport twice a week. This will be Ireland's first scheduled transatlantic service operated by a low cost carrier.

Charter Flights

Many holiday companies use Ireland West for chartered holiday flights. Destinations include Crete, Faro, Reus, Gran Canaria, Split, Lanzarote, Malaga and Palma Majorca and Plovdiv. A number of airlines including Spanair, LTE International Airways, Eurocypria, Futura International Airways, Iberworld and Aviajet service these routes. Winter charter flights include Thomas Cook to Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

On Wednesday evening, January 17th 2007, Ireland West Airport Knock and XL Leisure Group (Ireland) launched a highly demanded new holiday destination to Bourgas in Bulgaria. This new operator and its exciting destination will see direct flights operate from Ireland West Knock every Monday from May 7th to October 1st 2007. XL Leisure Group (Ireland) recently established itself in the Irish market and is a wholly owned subsidiary of XL Airways, one of the world’s leading charter airlines.

Ground transportation

A shuttle bus service between the airport and Charlestown (3.1 miles/ 5km) links with regular intercity and regional services of the Bus Éireann network. A new bus service between Westport, County Mayo and the airport is due to commence in August 2006. Car hire is available from numerous companies at the airport. New Bus Éireann Routes via Ireland West Airport Knock: Galway/Derry Route via Ireland West Airport Knock • enhancing the existing Galway to Derry service to operate 7 services Galway/Derry and 6 services Derry/Galway daily, all of which would operate via Ireland West Airport Knock

Sligo/ Ireland West Airport Knock • introducing 2 new daily return services from Sligo to Ireland West Airport Knock

Sligo/Galway via Ireland West Airport Knock • Introducing 1 additional daily return service from Sligo to Galway, that will operate via Ireland West Airport Knock

Letterkenny/Galway via Ireland West Airport Knock • Introducing a daily 6.00am service from Letterkenny to Galway, that will operate via Ireland West Airport Knock Westport/Ireland West Airport Knock • Introducing 1 daily return service from Westport to Ireland West Airport Knock

Charlestown /Ireland West Airport Knock • Introducing 2 daily return services from Charlestown to Ireland West Airport Knock

Government assistance

On 21 February 2007, the Irish government announced that it was giving €27 million of capital grant money to Knock Airport. This includes an extension to the terminal building. The airport intend installing a CAT IIIb ILS for runway 27 and hope to install a CAT I ILS on runway 09 such that diversions in low cloud will be reduced. New security measures will be put in place for the new USA routes starting in May 2007.

Incidents and accidents

  • 23 March 2006 - Ryanair Boeing 737-800 on approach to Knock, following a flight from London Gatwick Airport, "only marginally avoided controlled flight into terrain" according to the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit. An unbriefed descent as the pilots fixated on reprogramming for a new approach meant they arrived over the airport at 410ft with landing gear and flaps up. They landed successfully at a second attempt. [1]

References

  1. ^ Flight International 12-18 December 2006


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