Monsignor Horan and the airport at Knock

The exploits of the Mayo priest, Fr James Horan from the 1950s to the 19803 in developing an international ariport in county Mayo are the stuff of legend. In what was a busy life, Horan succeeded where membrs of the public doubted that he would succeed. Undobutedly, today, the success of Monsignor Horan is still felt in Mayo, despite the changing social and economic papers.

The Evening Press on the evening of the 1 August 1986 reported to the world that Horan was dead, having died in  Lourdes, France.

THE CONNACHT Regional Airport is Monsignor Horan's greatest single achievement.

Against almost impossible odds he succeeded in building the airport and bringing it up to international operating standards. La.st week he saw the first flight from the U.S, operate through Knock when a Transamerica D.C.8 landed there.

Although the Monsignor had absolute faith in the viability of Connacht Regional Airport, this was not shared by the aviation authorities and experts.

Some of these dismissed it as ' Horan's folly' and it was described as ' a white elephant  in a foggy, boggy place,' by the Minister for Communications, Mr. Jim Mitchell. The Coalition government refused all further aid for the project, and another major blow came when Ihe Irish Airports Authority, Aer Rianta, declined to add the airport to those it already managed at Dublin and Cork. Monsignor Horan reacted by signing a management contract with a subsidiary of the British Airports Authority and thus ensured highly professional management for his project. And although he failed to get Aer Lingus or any of the major airlines to operate scheduled services through Knock, he negotiated with former Aer Lingus pilot, Mr Danny Higgins, who set up an airline called Celtic Air to separate scheduled services to the U.K….

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irisharchives.com)