Yes, you can smoke at City of Derry Airport (LDY) at the designated area outside the terminal building, on the landside forecourt before security. The terminal is smoke-free throughout under Northern Ireland’s smoke-free law, and there is no smoking facility beyond the security checkpoint — take your smoke break on the forecourt before you check in.
The Designated Smoking Area
The smoking area at LDY is outside the terminal building, on the forecourt in front of the main entrance. It serves departing passengers heading in to check-in and arriving passengers coming out to the car parks and taxi rank alike.
LDY is a small, single-terminal airport, which works in a smoker’s favour: the check-in desks, the security queue and the front doors are all within a few steps of each other, so stepping outside for a cigarette costs a minute rather than a trek across a concourse. Stand clear of the entrance doors and away from the doorway when you light up.
The airport sits on exposed ground at Eglinton, on the flat land beside Lough Foyle with the Donegal hills to the west, so the forecourt catches the wind and the rain off the Atlantic for much of the year. Bring a jacket for a winter smoke break.
After Security
Once you pass through the security checkpoint at LDY there is nothing until you land — the departure lounge, the Airport Shop and the Amelia Earhart Lounge, which sits airside within the shop unit, are all smoke-free, and the lounge has no outdoor terrace.
Going back out for a cigarette is realistic here in a way it is not at bigger airports. The terminal is small enough that leaving the secure area, smoking on the forecourt and re-clearing screening is a short round trip. The airport asks passengers to arrive no later than two hours before departure and closes gates 15 minutes before scheduled departure, so take the break early in that window rather than after your flight is called.
If you are connecting onward through London, Loganair’s Heathrow service lands at Terminal 2, which has an outdoor airside smoking area near Gate A1 — see where you can smoke at Heathrow for the route to it. For Ryanair’s Manchester flights, note that Terminal 3 has landside smoking only at Manchester. Travelling on to Belfast International instead? The BFS smoking areas are also outside the terminal.
Terminal Layout and Airlines
City of Derry Airport operates a single purpose-built terminal, opened in March 1994, at Eglinton about seven miles (11 km) northeast of Derry. It is owned by Derry City and Strabane District Council and handled 220,037 passengers in 2025, up 22.9 per cent on the year before.
easyJet is the largest carrier, flying to Birmingham, Edinburgh and Liverpool. Loganair operates Glasgow and the London Heathrow link, and Ryanair serves Manchester. Seasonal and charter programmes add Lapland, Lourdes, Medjugorje and Verona. Traffic is overwhelmingly point-to-point, so most passengers here are starting or ending a journey rather than connecting.
City of Derry Airport publishes no separate smoking-policy page of its own; the position is the standard Northern Ireland one — smoke-free inside, designated outdoor smoking outside the terminal.
Vaping and E-Cigarettes
Vape at the same designated area outside the terminal building. E-cigarettes and heat-not-burn devices such as IQOS are treated the same as cigarettes indoors at LDY, so the departure lounge, the Airport Shop, the lounge and the toilets are all off limits for vaping.
For getting your device through the checkpoint, the airport’s published security guidance is worth reading before you travel: one lighter per person may be carried, treated as a liquid for screening purposes, and it must stay on your person throughout the flight rather than going into hold baggage. Since June 2025 disposable vapes can no longer be sold anywhere in the UK, so pack a refillable device rather than counting on buying one at the airport or on arrival.
Summary
| Area | Smoking Allowed | Location Details |
|---|---|---|
| Outside the terminal building | Yes | Designated landside area on the forecourt, clear of the entrance |
| Inside the terminal | No | Smoke-free throughout, including toilets |
| After security / departure lounge | No | Smoke on the forecourt before you clear security |
| Amelia Earhart Lounge | No | Airside, within the Airport Shop unit; no outdoor terrace |
| Vaping | Outdoor area only | Same rules as cigarettes, including IQOS and other heated devices |
For United Kingdom airport smoking rules, vaping rules, and other general info, see our United Kingdom smoking guide.