Airports are expensive facilities, so it’s very uncommon for them to be built and then never used. These ghost airports do exist, with the most famous example being Ciudad Real International Airport in Spain. That was built at a cost of €1.1 billion and has been barely used.
Ireland has quite a lot of airports for its size, and I was amazed to discover there are two more sitting idle. What is worse is that these are hardly old facilities.
Ghost Airports of Ireland
Completed in 2009 at a cost of over €9 million, the two airports in question are located in County Galway in the west of Ireland. One is on the island of Inishbofin, pictured at the top of this article.
With a population of just 180 people, it is 8km off the mainland, and current sees ferry services from Cleggan. Speaking of Cleggan, that is the other place where an airstrip was built. The population there is about 260.
A new contract was signed today covering the services from Connemara to Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr. In the news article about it, right at the end it was mentioned that the airstrips at Cleggan and Inishbofin were also included, which is how I found out about them.
Overall Thoughts
With the new contract running until 2025, it looks like Ireland’s two ghost airports will continue to be maintained though unused. Apparently there is some issue with one of the facilities being designated as a Public Service Obligation (PSO) facility, meaning regular services would have to be subsidised.
It would be a shame to see the facilities go to ruin, almost as much of a shame it is to spend money maintaining nothing, notwithstanding the original cost. The Irish Government should either get them operational for general aviation or sell them off to some enterprising organisation who might use them. At present, it’s all a bit of a waste really.
What do you think of these Irish ghost airports? Have you ever seen them yourself? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Mark Dwyer/Flying In Ireland via Irish Examiner.
Cleggan image by Jim Lee/Flying In Ireland via Irish Examiner.
I’m so surprised by this!! I lived in Ireland for two years and never found this out. My Irish boyfriend always jokes that I know more about Ireland and have seen more of Ireland than him, but we both didn’t know about these airports. Thanks for sharing!
I am glad you found it useful, Maria! Thanks for the comment.
That is interesting. I never really expected a country the size of Ireland to have unused airports, but I guess you do. I guess there are a few unserved, ie…no commercial service airports dotted about. Being an av-geek with a focus on commercial airlines/airports/planes its fun to read about these sorts of things. Thanks Trent.
Thanks, I’m glad you found it interesting. It was certainly a surprise to me when I realised they were there. Maybe they’ll give one to me just for fun! 🙂