Departure
92%
vs 95% ▼ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
City of Derry Airport (EGAE) sits on the south bank of Lough Foyle near the village of Eglinton, some seven miles northeast of Derry in Northern Ireland. Built as a wartime RAF and Fleet Air Arm station, it now combines scheduled services from Loganair, easyJet and Ryanair with general aviation, flying training and helicopter operations, making it an interesting and well-equipped destination for the visiting VFR or IFR pilot.
City of Derry Airport, often still known locally as Eglinton, is a regional airport on the south bank of Lough Foyle close to the village of Eglinton in County Londonderry. It is owned by Derry City and Strabane District Council and operated by City of Derry Airport Operations Ltd, and serves as the principal air gateway for the northwest of Ireland. Alongside its scheduled airline traffic the field has long supported general aviation, with the Eglinton Flying Club based there and helicopter pilot training and charter work also carried out on site, giving it a mixed character that will appeal to visiting light aircraft pilots as well as those flying in on airline types.
The airport lies about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Derry city centre, on the south shore of Lough Foyle, a short distance from the village of Eglinton and roughly 8 miles from the city itself. The field is served by its own Approach and Tower service and an ATIS broadcast, reflecting controlled airspace around the aerodrome; pilots should expect to operate under an ATC clearance rather than a purely uncontrolled joining procedure.
The airfield has two paved runways. The main runway, 08/26, is a hard surface some 6,173 to 6,441 feet in length depending on the threshold used, lit, and equipped with an ILS. A shorter secondary runway, 02/20, is also hard-surfaced and lit, with lengths of 3,565 feet on 02 and 3,940 feet on 20, but without an ILS. Field elevation is 13 feet.
Inbound and outbound traffic should expect to work Eglinton Approach on 123.625 MHz, monitor Eglinton Information (ATIS) on 119.38 MHz, and contact Eglinton Tower on 134.155 MHz for runway and circuit instructions. An ILS is available on runway 08/26 to support instrument approaches in poor weather.
The airport's position on the south bank of Lough Foyle, close to the village of Eglinton, provides a clear visual reference for pilots approaching from the surrounding area, with the broad expanse of the Lough itself a useful landmark when inbound from the north or east.
The airfield originated during the Second World War as RAF Eglinton, opened in 1941 as the base for No. 133 Squadron RAF flying Hawker Hurricanes in defence of the city, with No. 41 Squadron RAF taking over in 1942. In 1943 it became a Fleet Air Arm station, RNAS Eglinton (HMS Gannet), home to No. 1847 Fleet Air Arm Squadron, which flew convoy escort duties during the Battle of the Atlantic. RNAS Eglinton closed in April 1959, its remaining squadrons moving to RAF Ballyhalbert and RAF Ballykelly. After the war much of the land reverted to the Ministry of Defence and then to the original landowners during the 1950s. Limited civil flying began in the 1960s, with Emerald Airways building a new terminal and control tower and starting a Glasgow service on 16 September 1967. Through most of the 1970s the only flying was carried out by the Eglinton Flying Club, which remains based at the airport today. Londonderry City Council purchased the airfield in 1978 to improve transport links for the northwest, and Loganair introduced the first scheduled Derry to Glasgow service in 1979, later adding a Manchester route in 1989. A major redevelopment between 1989 and 1993, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, upgraded runways, taxiways, navigation equipment and lighting, and produced a new terminal that opened in March 1994; the airport was renamed City of Derry Airport around this time. Jersey European Airways briefly operated a Derry to Belfast City shuttle from 1995, and further safety improvements followed in 1998 and 1999, with funding drawn from the Irish government as well as British sources given the airport's role serving County Donegal. Fuel tanks from the Virgin Atlantic Flyer transatlantic hot air balloon, which landed four miles away in 1987, are displayed at the airport.
City of Derry Airport today handles scheduled services from easyJet, Loganair and Ryanair alongside continuing general aviation activity. The Eglinton Flying Club remains based at the field, and helicopter pilot training and charter operations also continue to operate from the airport, sitting alongside corporate and general aviation traffic.
