Exciting news for anyone who flys to Ireland

Even though their service was crappy when I flew Ryan Air from Dublin to London last month, I would certainly consider using them to fly to Dublin. Their flights are so cheap!

Newsday.com
International flights may come to MacArthur airport
BY SANDRA PEDDIE

[email protected]

2:30 PM EDT, September 27, 2007

Town of Islip officials have entered into talks with a European airline in the hopes of adding international flights to Long Island-MacArthur Airport, Islip supervisor Phil Nolan said today.

If a deal with the Dublin, Ireland-based Ryan Air and the town-owned airport is completed, flights to Dublin and other European destinations could begin next spring, Nolan said.

The announcement was made a news conference at the airport in Ronkonkoma, where Nolan also said that longtime airport commissioner Al Werner is retiring.

Werner, 78, began his career as an air traffic controller at MacArthur in 1952.

"He started at the airport when I was two," Nolan said.

Werner said he will retire on Nov. 16, but will hold a role as a contracted consultant. The terms of that contract with the town were not released.

"It's time for a changing of the guard," Werner said.

In keeping with a pledge he made during his hotly-contested campaign for supervisor last year, Nolan said the town would launch a nationwide search for an aviation professional to run the airport --and develop new initiatives for future operation of MacArthur.

Among those initiatives town officials are hoping to develop will be a plan for enhanced security at MacArthur.

The town recently accepted a five-year, $1.2-million grant from the Transportation Security Administration that Nolan said previous supervisor Pete McGowan had rejected.

Nolan said the grant will be used by the Suffolk County Police Department to enhance security at the airport.

The town also recently received $200,000 from the Suffolk County District Attorney's office -- unclaimed funds from a McGowan campaign fund seized by District Attorney Thomas Spota before McGowan pleaded guilty to felony charges in 2006 stemming from his misuse of the fund.

The $200,000 will be supplemented with an additional $300,000 grant from the New York State Department of Transportation, Nolan said -- and the entire amount will be used to install new security lighting at MacArthur.

The announcements came one day after a town task force released a 21-page report on the state of the airport. That task force found that, while MacArthur has had an "excellent safety record" for the past 47 years of operation, profits decreased a staggering 80 percent in the last year.

But Nolan said today that the drop was due to increased costs for security, especially the August 2006 federal mandate banning carry-on liquids and gels. The increased costs were for the hiring of additional security screeners and overtime payments for them.

Additionally, the airport incurred additional expenses related to the new Southwest Airlines Terminal, which increased the size of the airport by 60 percent, task force chairman Martin Holley said.

He said that resulted in increased expenses for heating, lighting and security.

Just three domestic carriers schedule flights out of MacArthur: Southwest, USAirways and Delta. But Nolan said the airport could easily add the necessary customs and immigrations checkpoints needed to handle international flights.

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.

Re: Exciting news for anyone who flys to Ireland

OMG that would be the most fantastic news ever.....i was excited when globespan started their service into knock but now they seem to be going bankrupt and huge flight delayst but ryan air should be better......fingers crossed it will go through..thanks for the update.

Re: Exciting news for anyone who flys to Ireland

That will be great, I wonder if they will add a flight from the UK (Liverpool John Lennon or even Manchester)

I can just imagine the faces of all those tourists when they realise its an hour or so into Manhattan!!!