SUPPORTERS of a Facebook petition to bring commercial flights to Enniskillen’s St Angelo Airport have been told this week to “put your money where your mouth is” by its director, Alan Cathcart.

Maguiresbridge man, Peter Martin set up his Facebook petition over a week ago and already it has attracted almost 5,000 ‘likes’.

A gas engineer based in Camden, he contends that there is huge demand for commercial flights at the Enniskillen hub.

“I have been over in London on and off for seven years,” he told the Impartial Reporter this week, “Every time I fly out to work I see people from the area doing the exact same thing as me.

“If I could fly into St Angelo on a Saturday morning it would cut five to six hours off my journey time.

“And there is a good population catchment area here too -- Donegal, Tyrone, Monaghan, Cavan and Leitrim.

“There are bound to be plenty of people who would put this to good use.

“I truly believe there is a demand for it.

“But I’m no expert when it comes to plans and the logistics of this -- I just wanted to get the ball rolling and open up the opportunity for a discussion.

“I’m just a gas engineer! And this is just an idea that cropped up in my head one day when I was travelling back to Fermanagh!” Peter says he has already approached a number of MLAs for support in relation to his petition.

But hopes of his idea ever coming to fruition have already been as good as dashed by the airport’s owner who has described the aviation world as a “cut throat industry”.

“No one has come to me about this petition,” Mr. Cathcart told the Impartial Reporter, “They didn’t have the decency to contact me about it.

“They have a picture up on this page of my property but I know nothing about this proposal.

“It is all right having petitions, but what about putting all these Facebook ‘likes’ into some sort of action?

“Put your money where your mouth is.” Commercial flights are not an entirely new thing for St Angelo Airport.

A limited number of commercial flights were available to Zurich and Jersey in past after Fermanagh District Council bought the airport.

But in 2003, the Council announced that it was “moth balling” the airport due to a “downturn” in the aviation industry.

“I don’t knock the Council for doing it,” said Mr. Cathcart, “I don’t think much has changed since then either.

“But if somebody has a proposal then I am happy to hear it.” The Director said he had been approached by a number of operators in the past, but these had all come to nothing.

“We have been down this road before,” he said, “But the business plan has never stacked up and they have disappeared completely.

“The aviation industry is a very cut throat industry -- it’s a very expensive operation.

“I would say to people: come to me as a first port of call rather than starting a campaign that has maybe no funding behind it and may not get anywhere.” Regardless, the petition has attracted huge support from people commuting to work across the water on a regular basis.

Father of two, John Cullen, travels to London to fit shops in the capital city.

“I am away from home for two weeks at a time,” he explained, “Unfortunately there is no work around Fermanagh -- London is the place to go -- there is work everywhere you look.

“And there are a lot of Irish people out here too. Where we are staying at the moment, there are a lot of people from Fermanagh and Tyrone who have travelled over to work.

“Even if St Angelo had a couple of flights a week it would make all the difference.

“You could come home at your leisure every weekend.

“My oldest nine years old and the youngest is two years old, so it is quite tough.

“After Christmas, it took a bit of time to get back into the swing of things after being at home for a while.” Enniskillen man, Daniel Dooris, who has just become a father for the second time, is in a similar situation.

A former employee at Fishers Engineering, he now works for an English based steel erecting firm.

“I’m surprised a petition like this hasn’t happened sooner,” he said, “I’m sure there are other companies here that would benefit from commercial flights in and out of Enniskillen.

“Not one person I have talked to has had a bad thing to say about this petition -- they all see it as a benefit to the area.” And Michael Duffy, a solicitor from Enniskillen, has similar sentiments.

“Up until last Summer, I worked in England for seven years and travelled back to Enniskillen two or three weekends every month.

“I worked in a few different cities in England but over my time there I flew from and to Bristol, East Midlands and Birmingham. I would have to fly from Belfast International or Belfast City Airport, or even Dublin or Knock on some occasions. On every flight I would see the same faces, many of whom I recognised from Fermanagh.

“When you are flying on a regular basis, weekends are even more precious. Taking the drive to and from Belfast out of the equation would make a massive difference to people who find themselves travelling back to Fermanagh frequently to see family, friends and partners and I have no doubt this would be welcomed by a lot of Fermanagh people, and people in neighbouring counties.” Former flight attendant and despatcher for Easyjet, Lisa Burns, from Enniskillen, with 17 years of experience in the aviation world, says she too supports the petition.

“It’s a great idea but there are a lot of things to take into consideration here,” she acknowledged.

“The infrastructure for one, parking, roads, the runway -- that is the big one.

“The runway at Knock is bigger than St Angelo. So if this actually happened, it is not going to be able to carry big aircraft.

“The weather affects smaller aircraft, so that would also have to be taken into consideration.

“I think too, that it would have to fly into the cheaper hubs, like London South End.

“This would be such a good opportunity for the County.

“It would be a big thing for tourism in Fermanagh and I know there would be a big demand for it from students travelling back and forward to university too.”