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easyJet to switch Belfast route to City Airport

Thursday, 15 October 2009

easyJet announced today it is switching its services between London Luton and Belfast International Airport to the George Best Belfast City Airport.

The twice daily flights will move to the airport on the edge of the city on January 7, but it also means a halving of the number of flights on weekdays.

The budget airline said the move was to assess if passengers found a benefit from flying to and from an airport closer to the city of Belfast when travelling shorter routes.

If successful, easyJet said it planned to provide greater frequency and to consider additional routes from Belfast City.

The airline currently operates a base at Belfast International, with five aircraft flying over 3 million passengers to 19 destinations .

Belfast City is just under four miles from the city centre, compared to the almost 20 of the International airport.

The new route will put easyJet in direct competition from Belfast City to London airports with Ryanair, which flies to London Stansted, flybe which goes to London Gatwick and BMI which flies to Heathrow.

Paul Simmons, regional manager for the airline in the UK, said: "easyJet is committed to Northern Ireland, very committed. We are No 1 in the region, but we are not complacent.

"That is why we want to see if our passengers flying on selected shorter routes would prefer to fly via Belfast City Airport. The only way to actually do this properly is to run a route from there.

"We will take our time in assessing the passenger feedback and then take a view on how best to configure our operations between the two airports in the longer term."

George Best Belfast City Airport chief executive Brian Ambrose said he was delighted easyJet had selected Luton as its first route for the airport - one no other airline currently offered.

He sad: "I am certain that the continuing private investment by our owners in the airport's infrastructure, aimed at enhancing the customer experience, will appeal to easyJet passengers.

"The arrival of another premier airline to Belfast City will be welcome news for our growing customer base."

Passengers who have already booked flights for after the swap date will be contacted and offered a free transfer or full refund.

However residents living in east Belfast who are already resisting plans to extend the runways, attacked the easyJet decision.

Fiona McKinley, of the pressure group Belfast City Airport Watch, said they were very concerned.

"It is a further step towards the day when Belfast will have a huge international airport right on its doorstep, creating an intolerable problem for the tens of thousands of local residents who already suffer from aircraft noise.

EasyJet is a highly competitive, low-cost carrier which, like Ryanair, relies on attracting large volumes of passengers.

"We would also question whether, if easyJet does go ahead with further services, the airport can adhere to the 'seats for sale' limit on passenger numbers stipulated by its Planning Agreement with the Department of the Environment."

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Frankie boy
Just think of this one
A plane rolls down the runway, not a turbofan one but a normal twin turboprop 50 seats
A tire bursts or engine fails
It has to take off as your group stopped the runway extention being built. The plane comes down.
The report says that it would not have happeed if the runway was a bit longer as the captin and co pilot would not have passed the V1 point of no return without running out of stopping space
Then you can say to your family and friends " I stopped the runway extention being built!!"
o would that make you feel?Wold it be I told you so??

Posted by Plane spotter | 10.11.09, 12:08 GMT

Frank McM, quit whinging and let economic viability dictate the success or failure of this. I often fly to George Best Belfast City from Birmingham because my family live in Comber and I can get a taxi home or picked up without too much disruption to my family. In the unfortunate event of my having to fly into the International airport, it is so much more hassle getting into Belfast or for my relatives to come and collect me.
I was disappointed in the loss of Air Berlin from the City as I used it to fly from Germany on several occasions so any increase in competition can only be welcomed.

Posted by Leslie B | 30.10.09, 18:22 GMT

cheap airflights yes but very dear car parking. paid over £24 in long stay carpark for over night stay and friend paid £56 for same period of time by parking his vehicle in short stay park by mistake. absolute robbery

Posted by Fitz | 30.10.09, 10:56 GMT

The public enquiry into the airport is an ultimate waste of public money, at a time when there are public spending cuts everywhere as well. It is a disgrace that these people are getting in the way of economic development through the expansion of the City airport. If you don’t want noise, don’t live in the city. It’s simple! We are living in the 21st century and in order for the economy to prosper, and hence benefit us all the airport must be expanded to facilitate increased passenger numbers. We as a constituent country anr lagging far enough behind the rest of the UK as it is, without growth being restricted further by a group of selfish people who choose to live beside an airport, and then complain about the noise!!!!

Posted by AJLES | 20.10.09, 08:47 GMT

Frankieboy!!

Yet again stories of gloom and doom!!!
Read section 5 of the report at the airport or the planning office
I hope you wont be using your home heating this year them Frank as its the same stuff the planes run on, Thats more poluting than the wee airbus!!
Anyway reading the BCAW web page makes me think that anything that happens is a "Disaster!!" Tell the truth BCAW you want to save Aldergrove from turning into a ghost airport

Posted by planespotter | 17.10.09, 06:47 GMT

Too many people suffer from"belfastitis" - thanks a disease that prevents them from driving 18 miles to bfs.

agree gbbca car parking charges are extreme. When will air passengers realise to add up the total cost of the journey and not the headline fare

solution - if easyjet can operate from both airports why can ryanair not do the same?

Posted by ge | 16.10.09, 16:48 GMT

I live on flight path to city airport and honestly dont see any problem if it means I can get European Flights so easily. Instead of having to drive to Aldergrove. City is so close to train connections to most of NI and Ireland.

Posted by Nancy | 16.10.09, 15:16 GMT

"we want to see if our passengers flying on selected shorter routes would prefer to fly via Belfast City Airport" What? Hasn't Easyjet heard of market research?

Why not try asking all the passengers in the check-in queues at Belfast International if they'd prefer to fly from Belfast City?

Doooh ...

Posted by Trevor Stewart (Market Research Consultant) | 16.10.09, 12:26 GMT

Dual carriageway from M2 junction, around Templepatrick, up to the airport.

Thinks its hilarious that if folk are flying hundreds of miles, either to the mainland, or abroad, yet complain for an extra 20 odd minutes up the road.

If your flight is delayed 20 minutes, headwinds causing 20 minutes longer on plane, waiting at baggage reclaim etc, most I'd reckon would accept as not being too bad, could be worse kind of thing.

Though to drive an extra 20 minutes up motorway and an A road and you'd think it's in the middle of nowhere, and such an unreasonable ordeal. Bizarre!!!

Posted by Niall | 16.10.09, 11:22 GMT

The city has much higher "taxes" so your cheap flights will be much higher after these are added.

Posted by Philip | 16.10.09, 10:00 GMT

Good, now I don't have to drive to Antrim every week. "Belfast" International indeed.....

Posted by Kyle Johnston | 16.10.09, 09:19 GMT

Seems like the "George Best " airport is a good idea, as well as a business proepect.

Anybody living close enough to the shipward would know about any noise... how about 70 odd years!!

Posted by Bill | 16.10.09, 04:38 GMT

It's no surprise. "Belfast" International is a in the middle of no-where, with dire transport links.

I'm amazed that anyone even uses it all when Dublin is only an hour and a half away and has flights going all over the world.

Posted by man dingo | 16.10.09, 00:31 GMT

tes i think it is a good idea to fly into george best airport ,when i visit friends and family at present i have to fly into the international which is a bit of a pain,good for easyjet i am all for it .

Posted by gerry moffatt | 15.10.09, 22:49 GMT

Just what we need! More big loud polluting jets over our homes.

When is common sense not going to prevail and our Council or Environment Minister or someone with ab bit of sense not going to step in and stop this happening. All it needs it someone with some guts and compassion for their fellow human beings to say enough is enough - if an airline wants to operate out of Northern Ireland using jet aircraft like the Easyjet ones and Ryanair and Bmi, then tell them they have to do it at the appropriate airport - the international one - only 20 miles up the road.

This is madness - and this airport is an accident waiting to happen. I hope I never have to add a comment sometime which says I told you so...

Posted by Frank McM | 15.10.09, 22:40 GMT

I fly Easyjet from Aldergrove to Gatwick about 5 times a year and sincerely hope they do not foolishly change that route, otherwise I will be looking for another airline. I refuse to pay the car parking rates charged by the City airport. At least at Aldergrove there are now many private car parks all in competition and as a result fees are a lot less than City. For someone like myself living outside of Belfast, Aldergrove is just as easy to get to and its not as if it will even make flights shorter. So Easyjet, stay at Aldergrove! I am sure the residents around East Belfast will be delighted if you stay there too because as a Glentoran supporter I can honestly say that planes seem to be getting bigger, seemingly lower, definitely more frequent and we are regularly deafened at the Oval during a game so I pity local residents.

Posted by Stephen | 15.10.09, 19:47 GMT