Waterford

Tiny Waterford Airport, (Aerfort Phort Lairge), known locally as the South East Regional Airport, is located 4.6 miles southeast of the market town of Waterford and near Wexford, near the beautiful southeastern coast of Ireland. The airport opened in 1981, serving single and twin-engined light aircraft and with a porta-cabin as a terminal.

The southern Irish airline Avair began the airport’s first passenger service to Dublin in 1987, and in 1985 Ryanair launched its first scheduled service from Waterford Airport to London-Gatwick. At various points between 1987 and 2003, five low-cost airlines plus Aer Lingus operated routes to Dublin and smaller airports in the UK.

Nowadays, Aer Arran is the only passenger airline operating from Waterford Airport, offering scheduled flight to Manchester, London-Luton, Birmingham, Galway and Amsterdam, with seasonal flights to Lorient in South Brittany.

In spite of its small size, Waterford Airport managed to handle 144,000 passengers in 2008, and now operates five flights a week to Amsterdam, four flights per week each to Birmingham, Galway and Manchester and 14 flights to London-Luton. Many of the flights connect with onward international flights to worldwide destinations.

Waterford Airport also provides services for private and private charter aircraft. Operators of such flights are asked to call, fax r email to Waterford Airport Operations at least 24 hours prior to the intended flight. In order to inform the Customs and Immigration authorities, flights from or to non-European Union countries are required to book with the Airport Operations desk a minimum of 24 hours before arrival or departure.