Alan Cathcart was just six years old when he used to look out the window and see planes taking off at Enniskillen Airport.
His father was one of the workers who helped to develop it on behalf of the local council, carrying stones across to the Killadeas Road airfield which remains standing to this day.
Growing up opposite the airport just outside the Co Fermanagh town, it ignited an interest in aviation which Alan would carry through to later years when he became a qualified pilot. Alan eventually bought the airport from the local council in 2004 and it remains in his ownership to this day.
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One of only five licensed airports in Northern Ireland, many Enniskillen folk will remember the days when commercial flights to Jersey and Zurich were in full flight.
“The airport was built in 1941 in the Second World War like a lot of airfields in Northern Ireland. I think there were nearly 30 built during that period,” Alan told Belfast Live.
“It was active for a while after the war for aviation purposes but generally went into decline. It was acquired by the local council in the 1960s.
“Commercial flights started to Zurich and Jersey. Unfortunately they weren’t very successful and they were stopped.
“After the 9/11 event in America the council decided to close the airfield and it was then that a business partner and I submitted a proposal to the council and we reopened it in 2004.
“Since then it has been developed as a general aviation airfield for light aircraft and helicopters.”
Apart from hosting a group of private aircraft and pilots, St Angelo airport as it was known plays an important role in facilitating services for the Air Ambulance and other medical teams to help the local community. Alan says this is what keeps him motivated to keep the airport open.
He added: “The Northern Ireland Air Ambulance is based near Lisburn, so if it’s operating in Fermanagh it’s low on fuel generally so we offer a fuel service here so they can continue on their mission. They come in here on a regular basis, without us being here they couldn’t operate in County Fermanagh.
“We also provide facilities for medical flights, usually for organ harvesting and we could have four or five aircrafts coming from various airports in England and Scotland with medical crews and surgical teams who will then go to the local hospital.
“The whole operation for that might last 12 hours or more, we’re only a small team here but everybody has to be there for those flights.”
Alan recounted memories of some of the airport’s most famous days, including visits from the Queen and Bill and Hillary Clinton.
“The first VIP visitor we had was the two Clintons, they came just as we opened. We had Her Majesty the Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, she started her visit here.
“Since then we have had eight Royal visits, the Prince of Wales has been here three times.”
The viability of keeping an airport open is something that is not lost on the Enniskillen man. The City of Derry airport is to receive a £3m bailout from two Stormont departments in order to keep it running.
However, Alan says he has made it his mission to keep the runway of the airport open.
“There are a lot of airfields closing and they’ll never come back again. So it is essential this is kept open for all sorts of reasons.
“Imagine going through the planning control for a new airport. Look at Heathrow and their third runway and how long that’s taken.
“I’d like to think this airport will continue. We’ll keep it going anyway.”
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