Aer Lingus says that British Airways will add its codeshare on flights from Northern Ireland to Heathrow.
The UK flag carrier pulled off the Belfast-Heathrow route following 9/11, but today”s news sees passengers able to connect over BA”s significant London network.
And Aer Lingus says that its decision to start services from Belfast International to Heathrow was due to operational constraints at the Northern Ireland capital”s second airport.
George Best Belfast City Airport”s location just ten minutes from the city centre makes it a popular site for business travellers and airlines such as Flybe and bmi have significant traffic there.
”Belfast International has 24h flying and is on a large scale,” an Aer Lingus spokesman told ABTN. ”Belfast City only operates from 06:30 to 21:30 and has a passenger number cap, [although] to be fair, they are currently trying to remove them.”
Air Traffic Movements at Belfast City are restricted to 45,000 per year, although the airport has applied for a review. A government White Paper has recommended that City should handle 4m passengers by 2030 that should see gentle growth of around 4% per year.
Flights to Heathrow will start on 14 January next year using three A320 aircraft that will serve eight destinations including Rome, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Malaga, Geneva, Budapest and Faro, as well as Heathrow.
Aer Lingus” move provoked considerable controversy in Ireland, as it transferred its Shannon-Heathrow slots to Belfast to serve the UK capital. The eventual choice of Belfast as a base that could see Aer Lingus add 500,000 passengers, came down to a choice between the Northern Irish city and Birmingham.