Charter flight seats sell out in ONE HOUR as excited Derry City fans head to the Faroe Islands

Fans’ places on Derry City’s scheduled charter flight to the Faroe Islands sold out within an hour of going on sale earlier today.

The Candystripes have been drawn to face HB Torshavn in the First Qualifying Round of the Europa Conference League and interest in the two-legged tie which will take place on July 13 and 20 has been high.

Due to the complicated nature of the trip to the North Atlantic Islands Groups, the club decided to charter their own plane, which could accommodate not only the Derry City team and staff, but also a limited number of supporters also wishing to make the journey. Those spaces promptly sold out.

Derry City Commercial Manager Robert Martin explained the decision to hire a charter was the most sensible choice for the club.

“There has been a great response,” he acknowledged. “We just got confirmation on the charter earlier today and we were able to offer some availability to supporters thankfully. All availability on the charter flight was taken up within the hour.

“Normally we would look to see if a charter is possible, but it’s not always easy in the middle of the summer to get an aircraft or an aircrew but because of the destination, the Faroe Islands, it’s not easy to get there. You can’t get there directly really so the only option really was to get the charter flight.”

As usual with European games, City fans have been hard at work navigating various ways to get to the Faroes, with the number of available seats on the charter flight always likely to be limited.

 “Distance-wise it’s not too bad,” Martin continued. “It’s in the North Atlantic, between Iceland and Scandinavia. A lot of supporters have gone their own way and booked. A lot of people booked through Edinburgh and Copenhagen. That’s easy enough if you’re doing it in small groups or individuals. It’s easier to plan that, but with a large group like the team, which has so much luggage and kit to carry it would be a bit of a nightmare to try and plan it through different airports and different flight connections.”

Ticket news

Tickets for the home tie against HB Torshavn at the Brandywell on July 20 will go on sale in the coming days, with season ticket holders guaranteed first refusal as usual.

“We’re in a position now were we’re going to offer our season ticket holders the opportunity to purchase their own seats for the upcoming home leg,” Martin explained. “Hopefully early next week season ticket holders will receive an invitation to go in with their bar code on the club site, claim their own seat and buy it online. We’ve tried the system a few times and it seems to be working fine. There may be some glitches on it which is why we want to get it up and running early so we can accommodate everyone that requires a seat.”

 “There will be some restrictions on it again because of UEFA requirements. A certain number of seats in the Mark Farren stand will have to be blocked off because of security and safety reasons, and also to allow UEFA, the FAI and VIP guests seating. Some people who try to claim their regular seat in the stand, it may not give them that option, but they will get the opportunity to buy another seat in the Mark Farren stand through the live seating plan.”

While acknowledging that there will be some tickets available on general sale for supporters without season tickets, Martin was unable to confirm just how many.

“After the season ticket holders get the opportunity to buy their seats, there will be a number of general admission tickets made available,” he said. “These seats will be in Block ‘B’ of the Southend Stand. We can’t confirm numbers yet because we need the Faroese to come back and tell us what their requirements will be. We do need to offer them a substantial number of seats. We don’t anticipate that there will be large numbers travelling, but we will find that out before we do a general sale, but at the minute our priority is to get season ticket holders the opportunity to buy their seat.”

Tickets for the Europa Conference League tickets will be: Adults £25, Concessionary £15 and children £10, which is the same as last year.