Ireland West Airport ( ga, Aerfort Iarthar Éireann Mhuire), officially known as Ireland West Airport Knock ( ga, Aerfort Iarthar Éireann Chnoc Mhuire), is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

south-west of Charlestown,

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

, Ireland. The village of Knock is away. 750,000 passengers used the airport in 2017, making it the fourth-busiest in Ireland (after Dublin,

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

and Shannon).

History

The airport opened on 25 October 1985 with three Aer Lingus charter flights to Rome: the official opening was on 30 May 1986. The site, on a hill in boggy terrain, was thought by many to be unrealistic, but the airport was built following a long and controversial campaign by

Monsignor James Horan James Horan (5 May 1911 – 1 August 1986), born in Partry, County Mayo, Ireland, was a parish priest of Knock, County Mayo. He is most widely known for his successful campaign to bring an airport to Knock, his work on Knock Basilica, and ...

, the story of which has even inspired a musical. The primary motivation was for building it was to attract pilgrims to

Knock Shrine The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, commonly referred to as Knock Shrine, is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and national shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, where locals claimed to have seen an apparition in 1879 of the Ble ...

. Despite criticisms that the site was too boggy and too foggy, Horan delivered an airport within five years, primarily financed by a Government grant of £9.8 million. He died shortly after the opening of the airport, and his funeral was held at the then-named Horan International Airport. In recent times, Horan has been celebrated with a bronze statue erected at the airport. By 1988, over 100,000 passengers had passed through. Aer Lingus commenced flights from the airport to Birmingham in 1995.

Recent years

Since 2003, flag-carrier, low-cost and regional airlines including Aer Lingus, MyTravelLite,

Bmibaby Bmibaby Limited (styled as bmibaby.com) was a British low-cost airline that flew to destinations in the United Kingdom and Europe from its bases at Birmingham and East Midlands airports. It was a subsidiary of British Midland International, its ...

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

Aer Arann Stobart Air, legally incorporated as ''Stobart Air Unlimited Company'', was an Irish regional airline headquartered in Dublin. It operated scheduled services under the brands Aer Lingus Regional, BA CityFlyer and KLM Cityhopper on behalf of the ...

flybe Flybe (pronounced ), styled as flybe, is a British airline based at Birmingham Airport, England. History The airline traces its history back to Jersey European Airways, which was set up in 1979 following the merger of Intra Airways and Expres ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

and EasyJet have added routes to Great Britain and mainland Europe. Not all have proven successful, but by 2005 the airport was handling 500,000 passengers per annum. It was voted Ireland's best regional airport in 2006 and 2009 by the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland. 2007 was a notable year, with scheduled transatlantic services to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and Boston commencing in May, operated by the now-defunct Flyglobespan. A record 629,000 passengers used the airport in 2008, a 13% rise compared to the previous year. The installation of the Category II Instrument Landing System in April 2009 has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of flight diversions to other airports due to poor visibility – the airport is 200 metres above sea level. August 2009 was the busiest month for three years, with 81,000 passengers: 28 August was the busiest day in the airport's history, with over 4,500 passengers. In 2011, the month of August was the busiest in the airport's history with 84,052 passengers. 2011 was the most successful year to date with 654,553 passengers. The year saw the commencement of routes to

Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It is located approximately off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the i ...

, Tenerife and Gran Canaria operated by Ryanair and to Edinburgh operated by flybe. During September 2011 Ryanair celebrated its four-millionth passenger through the airport, while

announced it would be commencing weekly flights to Düsseldorf in May 2012. In November 2011, Ryanair announced flights to

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...

Tillé Tillé () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. See also * Beauvais-Tillé Airport * Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 679 communes of the Oise department of France. The communes cooperate in t ...

, Frankfurt-Hahn,

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

Orio al Serio Orio al Serio (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southeast of Bergamo. Orio al Serio Airport is located in the territory of the ...

and Girona-

Costa Brava The Costa Brava (, ; "Wild Coast" or "Rough Coast") is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Whilst sources differ on the exact definition of the Costa Brava, it can be regarded as stretching from the town of Blanes, northeast o ...

from March 2012. In January 2012 the 20th scheduled route was announced—flybe to Leeds, its third from the airport, from March 2012. Budget carrier BmiBaby announced in May 2012 that it was to axe its only route to Birmingham from 10 June, owing to the airline's takeover by IAG. Flights to Beauvais-Tillé and Frankfurt-Hahn have since ended. In 2013, Ryanair launched a weekly summer route to Málaga on Thursdays. Aer Lingus Regional, which took over the Birmingham route operating a daily service using ATR 72s ended service on 26 October. Flybe began four-times-weekly flights on the route on 27 October. On 31 October 2013, in response to the scrapping of the Irish travel tax, Ryanair unveiled three new routes from Knock to Glasgow-Prestwick, Kaunas and Eindhoven. However, these routes had all been withdrawn by the fourth quarter of 2014. On 16 August 2015, Aer Lingus operated its first transatlantic flight into the airport when carrying members of the Archdiocese of New York, alongside

Timothy Cardinal Dolan Timothy is a masculine name. It comes from the Greek name ( Timόtheos) meaning "honouring God", "in God's honour", or "honoured by God". Timothy (and its variations) is a common name in several countries. People Given name * Timothy (given name ...

, Archbishop of New York.

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Dolan subsequently opened the National Novena the following week after a tour around the entire island (all thirty-two counties). The aircraft used for the flight was a Boeing 757-200. It was announced in November 2017 that €15 million would be invested in improving and upgrading the airport in 2018 and 2019, to coincide with strong passenger growth. These plans include upgrading of car parks, passenger facilities, the terminal and resurfacing of the runway. On Thursday 20 February 2020, the first Airbus A380 (F-HPJB) to be retired by Air France arrived from Dresden, Germany, for scrapping. The A380 was only ten years old.

Government assistance

The building of the airport was primarily financed by Government grants totaling £9.858 million. The completion of the airport was funded by a £1.3 million grant from the European Union, payable on condition that the airport developers provided an equal sum from their own resources. On 21 February 2007, the Government of Ireland announced that it was making a €27 million capital grant. The airport stated that it would continue the implementation of its €46 million infrastructural investment programme with over €20 million of spend anticipated for 2008. Work commenced on a number of significant civil and building projects in this year. A€5.5 million extension to the

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devic ...

building was completed in April 2009. The implementation of Category II Instrument Landing System (CAT II ILS) on runway 27, to enhance reliability in low visibility, has been completed and approved. An extension to the Runway End Safety Areas (RESAs) and runway turnpad was completed in March 2009. Departing passengers aged 12 years and over pay a "Development Fee" of €10. The fee is a critical contributor to the ongoing sustainability of the airport and provides a vital funding source to support the ongoing development works of the airport. In 2005, the airport changed its name to Ireland West Airport Knock. As of August 2009, the

Aeronautical Information Publication In aviation, an Aeronautical Information Publication (or AIP) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization as a publication issued by or with the authority of a state and containing aeronautical information of a lasting character e ...

, including the aeronautical charts available at European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, showed it as Ireland West.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate scheduled and charter flights to and from Ireland West Airport:

Passenger statistics

Passenger numbers

Busiest routes

Ground transport

Road

The airport is near the N17 road, about halfway between Galway and

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

. It is also close to the N5 Westport to

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

road. Over 1,500 short-term and long-term parking spaces are available at the airport. The nearest large towns, Castlebar and Ballina, are both distant, while

is from the airport. Galway is away and Dublin is from the airport.

Bus

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...

airport services: * Route 64: Galway –

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

* Route 440:

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...

– Westport

Train

The nearest railway stations, accessible by taxi and bus are: * Ballyhaunis - * Foxford - * Claremorris - * Ballymote - The proposed reopening of the Western Rail Corridor from Claremorris onto

would ultimately have closer railway access to the airport.

Taxi

Ireland West Airport is serviced by specially licensed Hackneys and must be pre booked by the laws set down by the National Transport Authority in Ireland.

Car hire

A number of international car rental companies offer rental facilities at Ireland West Airport including Budget, Avis, Europcar and Hertz.

Incidents and accidents

* Incident: Beech Queen-Air 70, N70AA, Sligo Airport, 20 Dec 2005. * Serious Incident: Boeing B737, EI-DHX, Ireland West Airport, Knock, 23 Mar 2006. * Accident: Beech 65-A90 King Air, N712DB, Ireland West Airport Knock, 22 August 2006. * Accident: Beechcraft 77 Skipper, EI-BHT, Kilmovee Co. Mayo, Ireland, 11 May 2008. * Incident: Cessna 172S, EI-NFW, Ireland West Airport, Knock, Co. Mayo, 28 May 2009. * Serious Incident: Diamond Twin Star DA42 MNG, G-COBS & Piper PA31-350, G-FCSL 5NM east of Ireland West Airport Knock, Co. Mayo 22 April 2013.

In popular culture

* The construction of the airport is the subject of "Knock Song" by Irish folk singer-songwriter

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...

. * The musical "On a Wing and a Prayer" deals with the life and times of Monsignor Horan, focusing on his struggle to get the airport built. It premièred in The Royal Theatre, Castlebar, on 25 November 2010. * The airport was used in the film '' Wild Mountain Thyme'' in October 2019.

References

External links

Official website
* * {{authority control 1986 establishments in Ireland Airports in the Republic of Ireland Airport Transport in County Mayo