Airport Belfast (Ireland) - International

Belfast International Airport
IATA: BFS ICAO: EGAA
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		TBI plc
Operator		Belfast International Airport Ltd.
Serves		Belfast
Location		Aldergrove, County Antrim
Elevation AMSL		268 ft / 82 m
Coordinates		54°3927N 006°1257W / 54.6575, -6.21583
Website		www.belfastairport.com
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
07/25	2,780	9,121	Asphalt
17/35	1,891	6,204	Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft Movements			77,652
Passengers			5,272,644
Source: AIP at NATS Statistics from the UK CAA.[1][2]

Belfast International Airport (IATA: BFS, ICAO: EGAA) is an airport located 21 kilometres (13 miles) northwest of Belfast in Northern Ireland. It is also known as Aldergrove, after the village of that name lying immediately to the west of the airport. Belfast International shares its runways with the Royal Air Force base RAF Aldergrove, which otherwise has its own facilities. Nearly 5.3 million passengers (2.2% of passengers at all UK airports) travelled through the airport in 2007, a 1.7 million (47.4%) increase since 2002^[2]. Belfast International is the 2nd busiest airport in Ireland in terms of passenger numbers, after Dublin Airport and it is the busiest airport in the province of Ulster. It is the larger of two airports in Belfast (the other being George Best Belfast City Airport). There are 48 scheduled destinations served from the airport, with 16 domestic services and 32 European and transatlantic services. Transatlantic flights include Newark, Orlando, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. There are chartered flights to Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, the USA and many European destinations.

The airport is a major base for easyJet and Jet2.com, with other airlines including bmibaby, First Choice Airways and Thomas Cook Airlines also having a large presence. In December 2007, Aer Lingus opened a base at the airport, operating to four destinations as of January 2008, and by March 2008 the airline will have a total of ten destinations with three aircraft based at the airport.

The airport is owned by TBI plc, the same company which owns London Luton Airport, Cardiff International Airport and Orlando Sanford International Airport.

Belfast International has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P798) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

Contents 1 History 1.1 1917-1945 1.2 1946-1970 1.3 1971-1997 1.4 1998 to date 2 Facts and figures 3 Statistics 4 About the airport 5 Airlines and destinations 5.1 Scheduled Airlines & Destinations 5.2 Charter Airlines & Destinations 5.3 Cargo operators 6 Transport links 6.1 Road 6.2 Bus 6.3 Train 7 Future plans 7.1 2006-2015 7.2 2015-2030 8 References 9 External links

History

1917-1945

The site for the airport was established in 1917 when it was selected to be a Royal Flying Corps training establishment during the First World War. The airport remained open at the end of the war for RAF activity.

Civil traffic began in 1922 when flights were conducted flying newspapers from Chester, although it was not until 1933 that a regular, sustained civil air service started. The flight was to Glasgow and was operated by Midland and Scottish Air Ferries. This was subsequently augmented by flights to the Isle of Man, Liverpool and Croydon, then Londons airport.

During the Second World War, Aldergrove remained an RAF base particularly for the Coastal Command. So that the airport could accommodate larger, long-range aircraft, a major works programme was undertaken to replace the four existing runways with two new long paved runways, thereby forming the basis of the layout that still exists at the airport today.

1946-1970

One of the outcomes of the wartime airfield construction programme was the building of Nutts Corner Airport, just three miles (5 km) from Aldergrove. On 1 December 1946 the new site replaced Belfast Harbour Airport (now Belfast City Airport) as Northern Irelands civil airport, as the site at Sydenham was considered unsuitable.

By the 1950s civil air traffic had outstripped the facilities at Nutts Corner and, in addition, aircraft were being regularly diverted to Aldergrove because of adverse weather conditions. In July 1959 the decision was made to move civil flights to Aldergrove to take advantage of the large airfield and this took place in October 1963.

A new terminal and apron were built with the necessary passenger facilities and the complex was opened by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother on 28 October 1963. In 1966 the first regular jet service to Gatwick started and in 1968 Aer Lingus and BOAC introduced scheduled services to New York via Shannon and Prestwick respectively.

1971-1997

In 1971 Northern Ireland Airports Limited was formed to operate and develop the airport and its facilities. A major programme of airfield upgrades was undertaken resulting in improvements to runways, taxiways and the parking apron.

A new International Pier was built together with lounge facilities and car parks, while an additional apron was provided to separate the smaller general aviation aircraft from large commercial jets. In the meantime, British Airways launched the first Belfast to Heathrow shuttle service, and the first Boeing 747 operated from the airport on a charter service to Toronto via Shannon. The first scheduled service to a European city was started by NLM Cityhopper (now KLM Cityhopper) flying to Amsterdam.

In 1983 the airport, renamed Belfast International, was regularly accommodating the largest civil aircraft in service, and with the installation of new technology was capable of all weather operations. In 1985 passenger numbers reached 1.5 million and BMI went into competition with British Airways on the Heathrow service. Further developments to the Terminal occurred throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. A new Executive Aviation Terminal was opened in 1987 and the new cargo centre opened in 1991.

The airport was privatised in 1994. TBI became the new owners of the airport on 13 August 1996, by which time annual passenger numbers had reached 2.5 million.

1998 to date

In 1998 EasyJet started operations from the airport with flights to London Luton. Since then the airline has established a large base at Belfast International and a further eight domestic routes and 15 direct European scheduled routes have been added to the network, making the airline the largest user of the airport. ^[3]

In 2005 Continental Airlines launched the first ever direct scheduled service to New York (Newark), and direct scheduled services have since been introduced to Vancouver with Zoom Airlines.

In December 2007 Aer Lingus opened a base at Belfast International, its third hub (and first outside the Republic of Ireland). By March 2008 three Airbus A320 aircraft will be based at the airport serving nine Aer Lingus routes from Belfast, and will restore the link between Belfast International and London Heathrow Airport. ^[4]

The additional flights are expected to help push total passengers at Belfast International beyond 6 million in 2008. ^[5]

Facts and figures

• 86% of passengers at Belfast fly scheduled flights, with 14% on charter flights. ^[2]
• 26% of passengers from Belfast International are business flyers. This equates to 1.2 million business passengers per annum.^{[citation needed]}
• The airport operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is not subject to noise abatement procedures, significant environmental constraints or airspace limitations.
• It is the third largest regional air cargo centre in the UK. ^[6]
• The busiest UK destination is London (3 airports combined), followed by Liverpool. ^[7]
• The busiest continental European destination is Palma. ^[8]
• The busiest transatlantic destination is Newark (New York) ^[9]

Statistics

Nearly 5.3 million passengers used Belfast International in 2007 ^[2], the highest total in the Airport's history. The Airport is the busiest in Northern Ireland, having experienced steady growth in passenger numbers, aircraft movements and freight throughput over the last 10 years. Since 1997 passenger numbers have increased by an average of 11.3% annually.

Number of Passengers [10] Number of Movements [11] Freight (tonnes) [10] 1997 2,476,834 35,070 24,838 1998 2,671,848 38,976 25,275 1999 3,035,907 44,817 25,773 2000 3,147,670 41,256 30,599 2001 3,618,671 45,706 32,130 2002 3,576,785 38,453 29,474 2003 3,976,703 39,894 29,620 2004 4,407,413 43,373 32,148 2005 4,824,271 47,695 37,878 2006 5,038,692 48,412 38,417 2007 5,272,664 51,085 38,429 Source: United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority [1]

Busiest International Routes out of Belfast International Airport (2007)^[12]

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	Number of Airlines who serve it
1	Reina Sofía Airport	274,668	6
2	Palma Airport	144,313	4
3	Malaga Airport	134,011	6
4	Newark Airport	103,628	1
5	Amsterdam Airport Schiphol	95,185	2
6	Alicante Airport	94,656	2
7	Nice Airport	92,582	2
8	Faro Airport	75,307	4
9	Lanzarote Airport	65,372	4
10	Barcelona Airport	62,649	3
11	Prague Airport	60,526	1
12	Murcia Airport	48,077	1
13	Reus Airport	40,030	2
14	Dalaman Airport	39,674	3
15	Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport	39,093	1

About the airport

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• Domestic Success: Due to Northern Ireland's relative isolation to the rest of the United Kingdom, about two of every five flights in and out of the airport are destined for England, Scotland or Wales. EasyJet, the airport's largest operator, flies to seven UK cities, each served between three and eight times daily. Jet2.com has two routes to the UK, Leeds-Bradford and Blackpool. Due to high demand, Jet2.com will increase the frequency of the service to Leeds-Bradford to three times daily. The Isle Of Man has also become a popular destination form both Belfast International and Belfast City Airport. Manx2 has increased the frequency of the service to twice daily. Bmibaby operate four routes which operate between two and four times daily. The recent base set up at the airport by Aer Lingus will revive direct service from the airport to London Heathrow from 14 January 2008, with three flights per day, increasing to four flights per day in March 2008.

• Continental Europe success: EasyJet is the largest airline at Belfast International, service 15 destinations in Europe(outside the UK) from Belfast ^[13]. With over three million passengers traveling through their Belfast base per year, it has become one of EasyJets fastest growing bases, and now accounts for 19% of EasyJets entire network. Jet2.com also operate flights to Europe, operating to destinations such as Tenerife, Las Palmas and Malaga. In September 2007 Wizz Air announced two new routes from the airport to Warsaw and Katowice. Aer Lingus serves nine European destinations from Belfast International; Amsterdam, Barcelona and Geneva, Budapest, Malaga, Nice, Rome, Paris and Faro. ^[14]

• Transatlantic success: In its first year of operation Continental Airlines carried approximately 85,000 passengers on its Belfast-Newark route, exceeding the 70,000 target set by the airline for the first year of operation. This led to an increase in the frequency from five five flights a week to seven due to demand. The daily service operates from March to October, with six times weekly service in winter months. Zoom Airlines announced in February 2006 that their route to Toronto had been "hugely successful" and that direct scheduled flights would occur all year round. June 2006 also saw the first direct scheduled service from Belfast to Vancouver^{[citation needed]}. Flyglobespan announced that it will increase the frequency of its scheduled service from Belfast to Orlando to two flights a week.^{[citation needed]}. Weekly flights occur in the winter season using Boeing 757 aircraft, however by Summer 2008 they will return to use the Boeing 767 aircraft. By Summer 2008 three airlines will operate services to Toronto ,resulting in 5 weekly departures to Toronto and Hamilton (outskirts). Air Transat and Zoom Airlines will operate two weekly services each to Toronto-Pearson and Flyglobespan announced recently it will recommence a weekly service to Toronto-Hamilton throughout the summer months.^{[citation needed]}. Thomas Cook Airlines operates A330 aircraft on regular charter flights to Las Vegas and Orlando.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled Airlines & Destinations

• Aer Lingus (Amsterdam, Arrecife [begins 30 September], Barcelona, Budapest [seasonal], Faro [seasonal], London-Heathrow, Málaga, Milan-Malpensa [begins 28 October], Munich [begins 28 October], Nice [seasonal], Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino)
• bmibaby (Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands, Manchester)
• Continental Airlines (Newark)
• easyJet (Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bristol, Edinburgh, Faro, Gdask, Geneva, Glasgow-International, Ibiza [seasonal], Krakow, Liverpool, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Málaga, Newcastle, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Venice)
• Flyglobespan (Orlando-Sanford, Toronto-Hamilton [seasonal])
• Jet2.com (Barcelona, Blackpool, Chambéry [seasonal], Ibiza [seasonal], Las Palmas [seasonal], Leeds/Bradford, Lourdes, Málaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa [seasonal], Tenerife-South, Toulouse)
• Manx2 (Isle of Man)
• Wizz Air (Katowice, Warsaw)
• Zoom Airlines (Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver)

Charter Airlines & Destinations

• Air Europa (Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca)
• Air Malta (Malta)
• Air Transat
  • operated by Skyservice Airlines (Toronto-Pearson)
• Arkia (Tel Aviv) [begins 31 August]
• Austrian Airlines (Innsbruck)
• BH Air (Bourgas)
• bmi (Alicante, Arrecife, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Las Palmas, Paphos, Reus, Tenerife-South, Verona)
• Czech Airlines (Salzburg, Verona) [seasonal]
• Dubrovnik Airline (Dubrovnik, Pula, Split)
• Eurocypria Airlines (Larnaca)
• First Choice Airways (Alicante ,Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Dalaman, Faro, Ibiza, Las Palmas, Málaga, Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Reus, Tenerife-South, Verona)
• Futura International Airways (Alicnate, Arrecife, Las Palmas, Tenerife-South)
• Flybe (Salzburg [seasonal charter])
• Hemus Air (Polvdiv, Bourgas)
• Monarch Airlines (Orlando-Sanford)
• Onur Air (Bodrum, Dalaman)
• Spanair (Alicante, Arrecife, Málaga, Reus, Tenerife-South)
• Thomas Cook Airlines (Alicante, Arrecife, Antalya, Bodrum, Cancun, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Girona, Heraklion, Ibiza, Las Vegas, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Monastir, Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Puerto Plata, Reus, Rhodes, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)
• VLM (Jersey)
• XL Airways (Arrecife, Corfu, Heraklion, Las Palmas, Malaga, Rhodes)

Cargo operators

Belfast International Airport is one of the most important regional airfreight centres in the UK, handling up to 50,000 tonnes (49,210 Long ton) of air cargo in 2004.^{[citation needed]}. BIA plays host to a long-established nightly Royal Mail operation. The major cargo operators are:

• DHL (East Midlands)
• Jet2.com (East Midlands)
• Titan Airways (London-Stansted)
• TNT Airways (East Midlands, Liege)

Transport links

Road

Travellers by car from Belfast reach the airport by travelling north on the M2 motorway, turning off at junction 5 and then via A57 for 7 mi (11 km) to the airport. From the north and north west the route is easiest found by coming south on the M2 again to junction 5.

Bus

Translink operates a 24 hour bus service every 10 minutes (Airbus 300) to the airport from their Europa Buscentre, in the centre of Belfast.

The airport can be reached from Derry and the northwest by the Airporter. This coach service operates 7 days a week and an hourly service from Monday-Friday.

Train

The nearest railway station is the Antrim railway station which is 10 km (6 mi) from the airport in Antrim, and is serviced by a bus link called the Antrim Airlink, which departs from in front of the terminal building, Monday-Friday only. There are connections to Belfast, Lisburn and Derry. Trains to and from Dublin are via Belfast Central railway station, which has its own Airbus stop. A new station serving the airport could one day be constructed on the mothballed Lisburn-Antrim railway line as set out in the airport master plan. This line remains in serviceable condition and passes close to the airport terminal.

Future plans

In September 2006, Belfast International Airport published their master plan^[15] for the next 25 years. The master plan predicts that passenger numbers will increase to between 6 million passengers per annum (mppa) and 7.5 mppa by 2015 and to 12 mppa by 2030. Cargo throughput at BIA could reach as high as 82,000 t (80,705 L/T) by 2015, and 148,000 t (145,663 L/T) by 2030. To accommodate this growth a number upgrades have been suggested, some of these are listed below.

2006-2015

• Extension of international check-in hall
• Extension and reconfiguration of domestic baggage hall
• Construction of a new South Pier including departure lounges
• Extension of West Pier (to accommodate more and larger aircraft)
• Passenger aircraft parking apron expanded into cargo apron
• Construction of multi-storey car park and high level link to terminal
• Expansion of cargo/freight handling facilities and apron to western extent of airport lands

2015-2030

• New three storey central core linking to existing and recently developed areas.
• A passenger rail connection to the airport
• Enhanced highway links between airport and M2 motorway and improved public transport direct to all parts of Northern Ireland.
• Demolition of the old terminal (replacement in operation)

References

External links

• Belfast International Airport, official website

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This article based on this article: Belfast_International_Airport from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and work with the GNU Free Documentation License. In Wikipedia is this list of the authors.