Early operations The airfield was officially opened in March 1978, to serve the nearby IDA industrial estate with an expectation of service to
Dublin Airport via
City of Derry Airport. Until the mid-1980s, the runway was a grass strip. This was replaced by a hard surface runway with temporary terminal buildings. The airport started passenger operations on Christmas Eve 1985, with flights to
Glasgow International Airport and latterly
Manchester Airport operated by
Malinair until its bankruptcy in 1987. The developments to enable this were completed with funds and assistance from the
Government of Ireland, private investors, Donegal County Council, the
International Fund for Ireland and the
European Regional Development Fund. The Malinair service to Glasgow was briefly replaced by
Air Ecosse in June 1987 before being reinstated by
Loganair in 1988. In 1989 the runway was extended to , with a further extension to , installation of runway safety areas and a new
terminal building with modern
navigational aids and equipment occurring in 1992–93.
The 1990s Ryanair added service to
London Luton Airport (via
Sligo Airport) in June 1990, however this service was suspended in January 1991 due to fuel costs and security concerns relating to the
Gulf War and did not resume. In 1994, the airport played a crucial role in the relief of
Tory Island during lengthy storms that prevented the shipment of food or fuel to the island by sea, with
Irish Air Corps helicopters using the airport for uplift of fuel, goods and passengers. Macair, a Scottish airline leasing aircraft from
Sun-Air of Scandinavia, briefly launched service to
Edinburgh Airport and
Birmingham Airport in 1995 but went bust shortly afterwards
Gill Airways provided service to
Glasgow Prestwick Airport in 1996, and also 1999. Also in 1996, the initial
Public Service Obligation contract for services to
Dublin Airport was awarded to
Ireland Airways, who began operating this service. There has been a continuous service to Dublin since. Glasgow services by Loganair ceased in 1997 when it was under the ownership of
British Regional Airlines, but were replaced by
Bright Air.
Aer Arran replaced the failed Ireland Airways on the Dublin PSO in 1998. The airport's runway lighting system was destroyed in a vandalism attack on 13 December 1999, p4, with a repeat attack in March 2000. Up to the 1990s, the airport was generally referred to as Carrickfinn Airport/Airfield/Airstrip and very rarely as Donegal Airport, as there were plans to open a "Donegal Airport" in the vicinity of
Letterkenny, with Donegal County Council preferring to reserve that name for the Letterkenny plans.
The 2000s From 2001 to 2003, the Dublin PSO route was operated by
Euroceltic Airways. On 21 February 2007, the Irish Government announced that it would be giving €3.8 million to the airport in capital grant money. Domestic service to Dublin was resumed by
Aer Arann. Aer Arann operated flights to
Cork via Dublin in 2009 until they reduced their Cork-Dublin service to six times per week. The route closed in March 2010. In February 2010, Aer Arann closed its service to
Glasgow Prestwick Airport and relocated to
Glasgow Int’l Airport. Late 2000s and early 2010s,
CityJet operated a Saturday seasonal charter flight to
Rotterdam between April and September using a Fokker 50.
2010s Service to Dublin was operated from 2012 to 2015 by
Loganair and
Flybe using a Saab 340 which rotated via Glasgow to provide aircraft and crew replenishment.
Stobart Air, operating as
Aer Lingus Regional, received
public service obligation funding from the
Irish Government to subsidise the route to Dublin. A contract was awarded in 2014, and the service commenced on 1 March 2015, using an ATR 42-300 (reg nos. EI-CBK or EI-EHH). The service was operated using an ATR 42-600 (reg nos. EI-GEV) from 2018 until the demise of Stobart Air, in June 2021. The airport was voted the world's most scenic landing spot in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
2020s In July 2021,
Amapola Flyg a Swedish regional airline, was awarded the PSO route from Dublin to Donegal, as a temporary measure following the demise of Stobart Air. The contract was awarded for seven months from July 2021 until February 2022. In June 2025, the runway designators were changed from 03/21 to 02/20 to match the magnetic headings of the runway ends, which had gradually decreased with
magnetic declination. New non-precision
RNAV approaches were also introduced, allowing suitably equipped aircraft to descend lower to the ground before having to abandon a landing attempt in poor visibility. ==Airlines and destinations==