George Best Belfast City Airport

George Best Belfast City Airport
Belfast City Airport
IATA: BHD – ICAO: EGAC
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner ABN AMRO
Operator Belfast City Airport Ltd.
Serves Belfast, United Kingdom
Location Port of Belfast
Elevation AMSL 15 ft / 5 m
Coordinates 54°37′05″N 05°52′21″W / 54.61806°N 5.87250°WCoordinates: 54°37′05″N 05°52′21″W / 54.61806°N 5.87250°W
Website www.belfastcityairport.com
Map
EGAC

Location in Northern Ireland

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04/22 1,829 6,001 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 2,555,145
Passenger change 13–14 Increase0.5%
Aircraft Movements 37,112
Movements change 13–14 Decrease2.5%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1]
Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

George Best Belfast City Airport (IATA: BHD, ICAO: EGAC) is a single-runway airport in Belfast, County Down, Northern Ireland. Situated adjacent to the Port of Belfast[1] it is 3 mi (5 km) from Belfast City Centre. It shares the site with the Short Brothers/Bombardier aircraft manufacturing facility. The airport began commercial operations in 1983.

The airport was formerly known as "Belfast City Airport" until it was renamed in 2006 in memory of George Best, the professional footballer from Belfast.[3] The airport handled over 2.7 million passengers in 2010, a record total for the airport, though the total was over 2.5 million in 2014.[2]

The airport is a major base for Flybe, which began operations at the airport in 1993 and is now the largest operator at Belfast City. The airport has a CAA public use aerodrome licence (number P862) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. Ground handling is provided by Swissport and Menzies Aviation.[4][5] In 2013 Aer Lingus opened a base at the airport transferring operations from Belfast International Airport.

History

Early years

Sydenham Airport was established by Shorts beside its Belfast factory at Sydenham, Belfast in 1937. This became Belfast's main civilian airport from 1938 to 1939. The airfield was requisitioned by the Royal Navy during the Second World War and named HMS Gadwall. RAF Nutts Corner then became Belfast's main airport (while Aldergrove would later become the primary airport in Northern Ireland). The Sydenham airfield continued to be used for military purposes until the 1970s, including use by the Fleet Air Arm as a naval aircraft storage unit, after which it was used solely by Shorts.

In 1983, following interest from airlines and customers, the airfield was opened for commercial flights as Belfast Harbour Airport (subsequently Belfast City Airport and now in its current guise).

Development from 2000 to 2010

Following major capital investment Bombardier sold the airport in 2003 for £35 million to the Spanish company Ferrovial,[6] the owner of BAA Airports. Ferrovial re-sold the airport in September 2008 for £132.5 million to ABN Amro Global Infrastructure Fund.[7]

In March 2006, it was announced that the airport would be renamed in memory of Northern Irish footballer George Best. The new name, George Best Belfast City Airport, and signage were revealed at the renaming ceremony attended by Best's family and friends on 22 May 2006, which would have been Best's 60th birthday.[3] The renaming of the airport caused controversy, with many articles in local and national print media highlighting the mixed feelings of Belfast residents.[8] Also in March 2006 Flybe announced that it would be naming its Belfast City – Manchester service after the footballer, dedicating a plane to him.

On 30 October 2007, Ryanair established its 23rd base at the airport. The newest route was between Belfast and London Stansted, following Air Berlin's announcement that it would discontinue the route on 31 October 2007. On 31 August 2010, Ryanair announced it would close its Belfast City base, meaning all Ryanair services were lost from 31 October 2010. Five routes and 800,000 passengers per annum will be lost at the airport as a result. The closure of the base was due to the planned runway extension being delayed for a further two years. The airline had stated it would fly to European destinations from the airport if the runway was extended.[9]

Passenger numbers increased by 4.5% from 2,621,763 in 2009 to 2,740,341 in 2010, the highest total on record at the airport.[2] Figure for 2014 is 2,555,111 passengers, up 0.5% on 2013's figure.

In late 2010 Manx2 moved its Isle of Man service to the airport. Many airlines followed the Manx airline in moving to the City airport.

Development from 2011 to present

In early 2011 Easyjet operated its London Luton route from the airport. This was to see if there was any benefit to the airline and its customers. The airline noticed no difference and moved the route back to Belfast International.

In January 2011 Bmibaby moved to George Best Belfast City Airport in order to keep its operation under one roof with sister company BMI. Bmibaby.In June 2012 Bmibaby ceased all routes from Belfast City, prior to its total cessation of operations, leading Flybe to increase schedule frequency on some routes. The carrier added routes from Belfast to Malaga, Alicante, Palma, Faro and Ibiza for summer 2012, in addition to a new year-round six-times weekly service to Amsterdam from October 31, 2011, and a twice-weekly winter service to Geneva from December 17, 2011. They all ceased in summer 2012.

In October 2012 Aer Lingus moved its services from Belfast International to the Airport. They launched flights to London Heathrow and London Gatwick and summer seasonal destinations that included Faro, Majorca and Palma. In late 2014, they also hinted that they were considering launching further routes.

In November 2014, Spanish airline Vueling announced that it was going to launch flights to Barcelona from May 2015. Flybe also announced that it would commence flights to Liverpool in February 2015. Both of these new routes would be in direct competition with easyJet, who flies from Belfast International.

In January 2015, Dutch carrier KLM announced that it was going to launch flights to Amsterdam from May 2015 using Fokker 70 aircraft. This will be the first time the airline has flown to Northern Ireland since it suspended flights to Belfast International in 1999. The route will be in direct competition with easyJet, who flies from Belfast International.

Expansion plans and objections

Control tower at Belfast City
Flybe Bombardier Q400 at Belfast City

As the airport is adjacent to residential areas, the issue of noise pollution is a major one and a source of public debate. The airport has developed a noise management strategy following a planning agreement, under which the airport operates, and has established operational noise abatement procedures.

The airport has recently applied for a complete removal of the limit on the seats it can sell[10] – a key element of the 1997 planning agreement, which guards against over-expansion of an airport which is sited in a densely populated location. As a result, numerous residents' groups have formed a coalition – The Coalition Against Belfast City Airport Expansion[11] – to protest against the airport's proposed expansion plans, and to represent the views of residents at the Examination in Public held during 2006.[10]

Restrictions applied to the airport include:

Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations
Aer Lingus London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow
Summer seasonal: Faro, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca
Summer seasonal charter: Verona
British Airways London–Heathrow
Citywing
operated by Van Air Europe 		Blackpool,[16] Gloucestershire,[17] Isle of Man
Flybe Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow–International, Inverness, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London–City, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Southampton
Summer seasonal: Newquay (begins 23 May 2015)[18]
Winter seasonal charter: Verona, Salzburg, Toulouse
KLM
operated by KLM Cityhopper 		Amsterdam (begins 18 May 2015)[19]
Volotea Summer seasonal charter: Verona
Vueling Barcelona [20]

Statistics

Busiest domestic routes to and from Belfast City Airport (2014)[2]
Rank Airport Passengers
2014		 Passengers
2013 		% Change
2013/14
1 London Heathrow 674 889671 941 Increase0
2 Manchester 297 467280 173 Increase6
3 London Gatwick 277 800406 464 Decrease32
4 Birmingham 260 330267 168 Decrease3
5 Leeds 156 542130 904 Increase20
6 Glasgow International 142 833119 280 Increase20
7 East Midlands 142 815125 883 Increase13
8 Edinburgh 142 403128 092 Increase11
9 Southampton 106 65185 603 Increase25
10 Cardiff 41 00638 389 Increase7
Busiest International routes to and from Belfast City Airport (2014)[2]
Rank Airport Passengers
2014		 Passengers
2013 		% Change
2013/14
1 Faro 57 44360 966 Decrease6
2 Malaga 51 39853 601 Decrease4
3 Palma 11 06413 596 Decrease19
4 Verona 10 3197 000 Increase47
5 Salzburg 2 6632 787 Decrease4
6 Toulouse 2 318315 Increase560
7 Paris 1 75419 837 Decrease91
8 Kaunas 1360 Increase∞
9 Maastricht 7350 Increase46
10 Athens 600 Increase∞

Ground transportation

Rail

Regular train services operate into central Belfast

Sydenham railway station is adjacent to the southern perimeter of the airport, across the A2 from the old passenger terminal. It is served by frequent Northern Ireland Railways trains between Bangor and Portadown. Trains towards Portadown call at the Belfast Central and Great Victoria Street railway stations. With the construction of the new passenger terminal further northeast, passengers arriving or departing by train can request an airport courtesy bus to take them to or from the terminal.

Car

The airport is located on the A2, Sydenham by-pass road between Belfast and Holywood.

Bus

Translink Metro route 600 is the Belfast City Airlink service, from the terminal to the Belfast Europa Buscentre adjacent to the Europa Hotel and Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station. Buses run up to every twenty minutes throughout the day. In addition Metro bus 3A operates every 10 minutes from Sydenham to Belfast City Hall. The Airporter service operates 12 coach services to the airport on weekdays as well as 5 coaches on Saturdays and 8 coaches on Sundays to Derry.[21]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Belfast/City – EGAC. Nats-uk.ead-it.com.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 UK Annual Airport Statistics. CAA (26 March 2014).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Best family proud of airport name". BBC News. 22 May 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  4. ↑ http://www.swissport.com/index.php?id=4&level=country&continentId=4&countryId=72
  5. ↑ http://www.menziesaviation.com/network/list/p/16/ref/Network
  6. ↑ Spanish firm secures Northern Ireland Airport. BBC News (23 May 2003).
  7. ↑ Airport Sale News
  8. ↑ 'George Best Airport' splits city. Thescotsman.scotsman.com (22 March 2006).
  9. ↑ "Ryanair to pull out of Belfast City Airport". BBC News. 31 August 2010.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Examination in Public – Belfast City Airport Planning Agreement
  11. ↑ Belfast City Airport Watch. Bbc.co.uk.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Belfast City Airport curbs to be relaxed". 2008-09-02. Retrieved 2014-10-08.
  13. ↑ http://belfastcityairport.com/Airport-Information/Statistics.aspx
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ http://belfastcityairport.com/About-Us/Environment/Noise-Management.aspx
  16. ↑ http://www.citywing.com/cgi-bin/airkiosk/I7/191003?150218184550.86.130.222.76.29793+/citywing/I7/EN/static/isle-of-man-to-blackpool.html
  17. ↑ http://www.citywing.com/cgi-bin/airkiosk/I7/191003?140403231324.82.39.76.222.18855+/citywing/I7/EN/static/route-map.html
  18. ↑ http://www.flybe.com/timetableClassic/timetable.jsp?selDep=BHD&selDest=NQY
  19. ↑ http://news.klm.com/klm-launches-scheduled-service-to-belfast-northern-ireland-krakow-poland-and-montpellier-france/
  20. ↑ http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/245308/update-2-vueling-plans-new-routes-in-s15/
  21. ↑ http://www.airporter.co.uk/derry-to-belfast-timetable-winter-2013.html

External links

Media related to Belfast City Airport at Wikimedia Commons