The official opening of Dublin Airport took place on Friday, January 19, 1940, when a Lockheed 14- WF62 Super Electra EI-ABV departed on its regular flight to Liverpool from the new base.
Passenger numbers were growing. During the five months from 23 October 1939 to 31 March 1940 a total of 2,893 traveled on the Dublin-Aer Lingus service, as compared with 760 on the Dublin-Bristol-London service in the previous twelve months.
But following the modest celebrations of the airport’s opening, Aer Lingus faced the reality that its fleet was too large for its operations, which seemed limited to the Liverpool route for the foreseeable future. On January 30, the DH89, EI-ABP, was sold to Australia for £2,800 and delivered to Speke airport. Another reduction happened in March when the DH86, EI-ABK, made a forced landing at Malahide, around seven kilometers northeast of Dublin Airport. Paddy Tierney, who joined the company in 1938, was among those sent to recover the aircraft. He recalled, “Down on the island at Malahide, it was like working in the desert. On a windy day, the sand would sting your eyes, and on a wet day, you were drenched.”
The EI-ABK remained out of service until October 1941. In April 1940, the two Lockheed I 4s were sold to Guinea Airways for £52,500. Also, in April, the S.S. Westernland docked in Antwerp from the United States with disassembled components of the first Aer Lingus DC3. As Frank Delaney recounted, “We collected the airplane off the boat and the wings off another boat, bringing it through Antwerp at 2:30 in the morning when there was no traffic.”
