Ryanair to serve both Belfast airports
RYANAIR will fly from both Belfast airports after announcing new routes from City Airport, it has emerged,
The budget airline is returning to Belfast City Airport after an 11-year absence with routes to Barcelona, Faro, Mallorca, Milan Bergamo, Ibiza and Valencia from June.
Malaga, Milan and Alicante routes will continue to fly from Belfast International Airport, where Ryanair has had a base since 2016. It previously stormed out of Belfast City Airport over delays in building a runway extension that would have enabled it to serve more routes.
Its fiery chief executive, Michael O’leary, said at the time: “We’ll come back if somebody at some point in time up here makes a f ****** decision”.
While there has been no runway extension, the airline said it could work around the issue.
Its push to sell flights could put it at odds with Deputy First Minister Michelle O’neill, who said last week she would not encourage people to go on holiday.
Dara Brady, Ryanair’s marketing director, said the speed of vaccinations suggested holidays would be safe from June.
He confirmed the airline was not in favour of requiring vaccination passports, although most countries do require a negative Covid test to enter.
Mr Brady added: “The Government’s highly successful rollout of the vaccination programme gives customers the confidence that travel will be possible this summer, and Northern Ireland consumers now have eight routes at low fares to some of the most popular summer holiday destinations in Spain, Portugal and Italy to choose from.”
Brian Ambrose, chief executive of Belfast City Airport, said: “This is excellent news for those in Northern Ireland considering a getaway this summer.”
A spokesman for the International Airport added: “We are pleased that Ryanair will continue to operate its existing services from Belfast International.”
It is a year since Belfast City Airport found itself counting the cost of the collapse of Flybe, its biggest customer.