"The announcement by the Economy Minister regarding responsibility for the funding of Londonderry Airport will be transferred from the Council to his Department will be welcomed by local ratepayers in the short term. Many colleagues and I have supported the Airport over many difficult years.
The annual subsidy cost in recent years has fluctuated between £2m and £3m, as a small regional airport serving a large rural area along with a relatively small urban population it has always struggled to properly expand it's operations run as it has been by a local authority. Route expansion is the key to success. The Ministerial announcement comes on the same day that the privately owned and run Belfast International Airport announced seven new routes for it's winter schedule.
Local Councils serving similar population areas across much of the UK struggle to compete with privately operated airports. What must happen now is the Minister's Department needs to work in collaboration with the private sector to establish the best way of attracting a number of additional routes that will raise the numbers using the airport considerably. Failure to do this will simply result in the annual subsidy continuing to be required but being met by all of Northern Irelands tax and ratepayers rather than being placed on the shoulders of Londonderry and Strabane ratepayers."