I’ll miss flying home to Donegal

IT WAS my birthday this week: I went to the James Vincent McMorrow concert on Thursday, then flew out to Donegal yesterday to see my 88-year-old mother. I thought to myself, ‘Wow, isn’t life wonderful?’ and then wallop.

I woke yesterday morning to a Facebook link telling me all Aer Lingus regional flights operated by Stobart Air had been cancelled.

I was looking at it thinking, ‘Ah, no this obviously doesn’t apply to me.’ And then I read the article and it very much did apply to me – and to a hell of a lot more than me.

The entire network of Stobart flights in Ireland is gone as well as its operations across Britain.

It’s not so bad for me really – I’ll be on the bus from Letterkenny today instead. But there are people around Ireland who really rely on these services. It’s the sudden nature of this that hits you.

I started using the service in July last year. To be honest, I’m the bad son who comes up to visit his 88year-old mother two or three times a year. I flew up and down again at Christmas. I started flying because there was no capacity on the bus and I investigated the possibility of travelling by train, but it would have been a train from Dublin to Belfast, Belfast to Derry and from Derry to Lifford where I live – which would have taken six and a half hours.

Flying really suited me once Covid hit because I didn’t want to have to wear a mask for three and a half hours on a bus.

The flight goes to Carrickfinn, which is in the middle of nowhere, right up the northwest of Donegal, and it is the most scenic approach in the world. It is a really, really beautiful approach.

It was a great service. Out of force of habit I would arrive an hour and 15 minutes before my flight, but people would arrive walking on as if they were getting on a bus. It was a service for people from Donegal to get to Dublin, and a lot of people like me would travel down to meet parents.

The impact of this on that part of Donegal is going to be terrible.

I flew down yesterday on time. I got to Donegal Airport with everyone smiling as usual.

There was no indication of what was to come at that point.

Then this morning I saw the Facebook post – I wasn’t even out of the bed because I always have a lie on in my mother’s.

I really fear for Donegal Airport now, I really do.