By Sean Moriarty 

It will take at least four weeks before a replacement airline can cover the Dublin/Kerry route following the sudden collapse of Stobart Air last weekend.

However, it is not all bad news for Kerry Airport as Ryanair will resume its Kerry Stansted service from today (Friday).

The budget airline is advancing plans to resume all its Kerry services with the Frankfurt Hahn route set to be the first international service on July 18.

All other routes including Berlin, Faro, Alicante and Manchester will return bit by bit once international travel restrictions are lifted.

The Killarney Advertiser understands that up to eight airlines have expressed an interest in taking over the Dublin/Kerry route.

Airport staff were left reeling last Saturday morning when it emerged that Stobart Air had collapsed.

The UK airline operated the Dublin/Kerry franchise on behalf of Aer Lingus Regional. It had seven months left to run on its contract with Isle of Man based carrier Ettyl due to take over the route later this year. It has since been confirmed that Ettyl does not have the necessary funding in place to take over the service.

As a result, Kerry Airport will be left without a Dublin connection for the best part of four weeks. It is expected that Aer Lingus will take over the route for the remainder of Stobart’s seven month contract.

“This may seem like a long time, but in airline terms and because it is a Government funded route, this is actually very fast, faster than ever imagined,” Airport CEO, John Mulhern, told the Killarney Advertiser.

“This is being done as fast as humanly possible. The Government was able to put all its bureaucracy aside and make this happen. Thanks to Norma Foley, Brendan Griffin and Pa Daly, they were all on the case at 6am last Saturday morning. We are happy things are happening so fast – we are not happy to lose Stobart, they were a great airline and great friends – but happy to see solutions are coming so quickly.”

Thanks to the efforts of local politicians, the procurement process for finding an alternative airline has been speeded up. Tender documents are expected to be published early next week – much sooner than normal circumstances – and at least eight airlines have already expressed an interest in the route.

Meanwhile, Ryanair’s return to normality continues at Kerry Airport. The Luton service has been operating on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the last two weeks.

The Stansted service is due to return today (Friday) and will operate Mondays and Fridays for the foreseeable future. German services will resume next month.

“Ryanair will start with Frankfurt Hahn and as they slowly get back on their feet all other services, Berlin, Manchester, Faro and Alicante, will return,” added Mr Mulhern.