Breaking News IE
Jonathan McCambridge
31 Dec 2025
A direct rule minister expressed scepticism about carrying out an urgent study into the “leakage” of passengers from the North to Dublin Airport in 2005.
A declassified memo also showed NIO minister John Spellar being told by an official that a recommendation from MPs that a review into the governance of City of Derry Airport could be “slightly awkward”.
The note to the then minister with responsibility for regional development is in response to a report from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee into air transport in Northern Ireland.
The memo said: “In general, the report is broadly helpful and can be interpreted as supporting the thrust of the air transport white paper, particularly as regards the development of Belfast City Airport.
The committee had recommended that the Department for Regional Development (DRD) undertake a review of the governance of City of Derry Airport (CoDA) “as a matter of urgency”...
