*Thousands turned out at the brand new Knock Airport 40 years ago.*

Unless you’re a local from the West of Ireland or a pilgrim to a holy site, it's not likely you’ve ever flown in or out of Ireland’s fourth busiest airport.

Ireland West Knock set a record for passengers in 2025 with nearly a million of them landing and leaving from there. How Knock, located in Co. Mayo about halfway between Castlebar and Carrick-on-Shannon, became the site of Ireland West Airport forty years ago is a great Irish story.

"When you grew up in the West of Ireland, there was still very much poverty, even in the Eighties. Families were all in the UK or America working. Immigration was extremely high. And all of a sudden we see these two Aer Lingus planes landing. It was just, wow...wow...wow." Pearce Concannon who was there that day and still works at Ireland West Knock.

First, there was a vision

In 1879. on a rainy night in August, members of the Byrne family reported seeing an apparition: The Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and St. John The Evangelist on the wall of the local church. Several nearby villagers gathered and stared in silence. An inquiry by the Catholic Church deemed the sightings credible. Knock became a National Marian Pilgrimage site.

‘We have no money but we are building an airport.”

In 1986, Knock Airport was dedicated. It would handle thousands of pilgrims to the Basilica built where the apparition was reported. A local parish priest, Monsignor James Horan, raised $10 million dollars and coordinated a massive volunteer effort to build an international airport in the middle of nowhere in the West of Ireland.

Today – Jan 20 – the BBC broadcast this look back at the construction and dedication of Ireland West Knock. (It's free but you'll need to sign in.)

For a feel of what the day was like when they dedicated the new airport, check this out from the RTE archives.

Parking so close you’re almost on the runway

Ireland West Knock is the fourth largest airport in Ireland, after Dublin, Shannon and Cork. It only has one runway, but it’s 18,000 feet long to handle today’s jets from 21 different European locations. It offers a daily flight to and from Heathrow airport in London and serves six other smaller airports in England and one in Edinburgh.

Direct flights are available to Catholic pilgrimage sites at Lourdes and Medjugorje. Monsignor Horan flew to Lourdes in August 1986. Exhausted from his efforts to build the airport, he died there and his remains were the first ever to be flown into Knock Airport.

From Fatima to Bethlehem, from Lourdes to Kiltimagh
There's never been a miracle like the airport up in Knock

Christy Moore, one of modern Ireland’s greatest musicians, celebrated Knock Airport in a song called Knock.

Oh once this quiet crossroads was a place of gentle prayer
Where Catholics got indulgent once or twice a year
You could buy a pair of rosary beads or get your candles blessed
If you had a guilty conscience you could get it off your chest

Then came the priest form Partry Father Horan was his name
And since he's been appointed Knock has never been the same
'Be god,' says Jem, 'tis eighty years since Mary was about'
'Tis time for another miracle.' and he blew the candle out

Chip shops and Bed and Breakfasts sprung up over night
Once a place for quiet retreats now a holy sight.

Another of Moore’s songs, DeliriumTremens, is about a hangover he suffered and a scary vision about Knock that came with it: no discounted liquor.

Well I swore upon the Bible that I’d never again touch a drop

I tell ya my heart was palpitation’, I was sure it was gong to stop

And thinking’ Was dying’ I gave my should to God to keep

An ten pounds to St. Anthony to help me find some sleep

I fell into an awful nightmare and got a dreadful shock

When I leant there was no duty-free in the airport down in Knock

That other airport in the West of Ireland

Another Irish High Cross is headed to Greater Portland