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Belfast International Airport
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Belfast International Airport is an airport located 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.
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Encyclopedia
Belfast International Airport is an airport located 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. 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).
The airport is owned by TBI plc, the same company which owns London Luton Airport, Cardiff International Airport and Orlando Sanford International Airport, as well as airports in Bolivia and Sweden.
Belfast International has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P798) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. 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.
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 London’s 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 from Aldergrove. On 1 December 1946, the new site replaced Belfast Harbour Airport (now George Best Belfast City Airport) as Northern Ireland’s 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 City 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.
In 2005 Continental Airlines launched the first ever direct scheduled service to New York (Newark), and direct scheduled services were later introduced to Vancouver with Zoom Airlines but have now ceased following the carrier's demise in August 2008.
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 were based at the airport serving nine Aer Lingus routes from Belfast, and the airline has restored the link between Belfast International and London Heathrow Airport which was abandoned by British Airways.
Despite these additional flights, passengers at Belfast International did not rise beyond 6 million in 2008 as some had predicted but in fact fell by 50,000 passengers to 5.2 million.
Services
There are 48 scheduled destinations served from the airport, with 16 domestic services and 32 European and transatlantic services.
Transatlantic flights include Newark, Orlando, and Toronto. There are charter and inclusive tour flights to Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, the USA and many European destinations.
The airport is a hub for easyJet and Jet2.com, and Aer Lingus 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, and now operate to a variety of European destinations.
Domestic flights
Due to Northern Ireland's relative isolation to the rest of the United Kingdom, about two in five flights from 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, and will commence flights to Newquay and Jersey in 2009. Aer Lingus revived direct flights from the airport to London Heathrow in January 2008. Although initial passenger numbers for this flight seemed to be low, Aer Lingus announced that more than 250,000 people travelled on the route in the first year of operation. They also added that they cover 40% of the Belfast-Heathrow Market in the last 12 months.
International flights
EasyJet is the largest airline at Belfast International, with services to 15 destinations in Europe (outside the UK) from Belfast. Jet2.com also operate flights to destinations such as Las Palmas and Málaga. Aer Lingus also serves several European destinations from Belfast International.
Continental Airlines operate daily scheduled flights to Newark Airport in the USA during the summer, and six times weekly during the winter. Other transatlantic flights are operated by Flyglobespan, Air Transat and Thomas Cook Airlines.
Statistics
Nearly 5.3 million passengers used Belfast International in 2007, 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.
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! style="width:75px"| >| Number of Passengers | Number of Movements | Freight
(tonnes)
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!1997
|2,476,834 | 35,070 | >-
!1998
|2,671,848 | 38,976 | >-
!1999
|3,035,907 | 44,817 | >-
!2000
|3,147,670 | 41,256 | >-
!2001
|3,618,671 | 45,706 | >-
!2002
|3,576,785 | 38,453 | >-
!2003
|3,976,703 | 39,894 | >-
!2004
|4,407,413 | 43,373 | >-
!2005
|4,824,271 | 47,695 | >-
!2006
|5,038,692 | 48,412 | >-
!2007
|5,272,664 | 51,085 | >-
| colspan=5 align="right"| Source: United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority
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Busiest international routes out of Belfast International Airport (2007) | Rank | Airport | Passengers handled |
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| 1 | Palma de Mallorca Airport | 144,313 | | 2 | Málaga Airport | 134,011 | | 3 | Newark Liberty International Airport | 103,628 | | 4 | Amsterdam Airport Schiphol | 95,185 | | 5 | Alicante Airport | 94,656 | | 6 | Paris (Charles de Gaulle International Airport) | 92,582 | | 7 | Faro Airport | 75,307 | | 8 | Tenerife South Airport | 74,935 | | 9 | Lanzarote Airport (Arrecife) | 65,372 | | 10 | Barcelona International Airport | 62,649 | | 11 | Prague (Ruzyne International Airport) | 60,526 | | 12 | Murcia-San Javier Airport | 48,077 | | 13 | Gran Canaria Airport | 45,137 | | 14 | Rome Ciampino Airport | 40,577 | | 15 | Reus Airport (Barcelona) | 40,030 |
Airlines and destinations
Scheduled airlines
Charter airlines
Cargo operators
Belfast International Airport is one of the most important regional airfreight centres in the UK, handling of air cargo in 2007. BIA plays host to a long-established nightly Royal Mail operation. The major cargo operators are:
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 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 to the airport from their Europa Buscentre, in the centre of Belfast. However this service is sometimes criticised for being relatively expensive in comparison with similar services at other UK airports.
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 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 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 by 2015, and 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)
External links
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