Historic occasion for Connaught Regional Airport as the first transatlantic flight landed in Knock, County Mayo.
Monsignor Horan, known as the architect of the airport, joined a crowd of about 4,000 people to welcome the 254 passengers as they disembarked the Trans America jet.
Reporter Pádraig Ó Catháin speaks to one passenger who is on her 51st transatlantic flight and is delighted with the new service that will take her directly from the US to her birthplace less than a mile from the airport. 81 year old Beatrice O'Brien visits Mayo every year for three months and says
I never thought I'd see this day that something like this would happen.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 29 July 1986. The reporter is Pádraig Ó Catháin.
In this radio report Pádraig Ó Catháin speaks to Monsignor Horan about this historic occasion.
A great day for Connaught - the day when we have established communications with Kennedy Airport... Knock Airport is as well known now as Kennedy or Heathrow.
Brother Robert Smith who chartered the flight is hopeful about the future of the route.
