Aer Lingus' Belfast Flights Take Off

Passengers from Northern Ireland were today able to enjoy yet another flight option thanks to the long awaited arrival of Aer Lingus into Belfast International airport at Aldergrove.

The airline launched its new service from Northern Ireland today and is claiming it will achieve its target of 500,000 passengers in its first year in Belfast.

Aer Lingus's decision to set up a Belfast hub originally resulted in staff threatening industrial action.

Also, just last month, a strike by Aer Lingus cabin crew and ground staff over the new pay and conditions in Northern Ireland was averted at the last minute.

Today though, Dermot Mannion, the Chief Executive, was upbeat and said there was " very good demand" across all nine routes Aer Lingus will operate.

He was speaking as the operation launched flights today for Amsterdam and Barcelona, and from Tuesday, for Geneva.

Other routes will be started between now and the end of March, with the Aldergrove to Heathrow service on January 14.

The opening of Aer Lingus' new Belfast base means Ulster air passengers have never had it so good. Three years ago there was just one route to continental Europe, now there are more than 30 direct to destinations like Gdansk in Poland, Tenerife and Barcelona.

Mr Mannion said: "On our advance bookings we are already across the 50,000 booking threshold which represents 10% of our target," he said.

"The demand for all routes is encouraging and we are already getting passengers booking online for services next summer."

Mr Mannion confirmed that Aer Lingus will be basing three Airbus A320 174-seat aircraft at Belfast International, a move which he said represented an investment of £100m and "a very significant commitment".

"In addition, we will now have 100 employees based at Belfast International and we were delighted with the calibre of the applicants for the positions," he added.

Mr Mannion also predicted that the code-sharing arrangement agreed with British Airways and KLM would prove popular with local passengers.

He said: "This means that passengers can book through journeys to onward destinations via Heathrow with BA and via Amsterdam with KLM."

Aer Lingus' flights to Budapest, Faro, Malaga and Rome will not start until February, with Nice in March.

The additional flights will help push total passenger numbers at Belfast International through the six million mark next year.

However, there was less positive news today, with the budget airline Wizz suddenly dropping its Dundee to Belfast flights - allegedly with only a few hours notice - with passengers notified via last minute text messages.

(BMcC)