Aer Lingus set to touch down at International
Business Telegraph - Monday, August 06, 2007
By Nigel Tilson
Aer Lingus is set to announce tomorrow that Belfast International Airport will be its new UK hub.
Since the start of this year the Irish airline has been evaluating airports across the UK which could act as a base - and Belfast International has won the race.
It is understood that part of the deal will see the launch of new transatlantic services from Aldergrove.
The airline is expected to base two new Airbus 320 aircraft at Belfast International and use them for routes to the US.
Aer Lingus is due to make the announcement at a press conference in Belfast tomorrow.
But today it was remaining tight-lipped about its plans.
Late last month a spokesman for Aer Lingus in Dublin said it was still looking at a number of options and was in discussions with a number of airports across the UK.
However, it was reported as recently as June that the airline was trying to decide between Belfast and Birmingham as the location of its new UK hub.
Also last month Uel Hoey, the business development director at Belfast International, admitted it was talking to Aer Lingus, but no decision had been made. However, he said BIA was hopeful of a positive outcome to the discussions.
And earlier this summer DUP transport spokesman Jeffrey Donaldson said that if the airline set up shop at Aldergrove, it could ultimately result in the opening of 15 new routes to Britain and the Continent, as well as the reinstatement of a link between Belfast International and London Heathrow.
Mr Donaldson, the Lagan Valley MP, was confident that Aer Lingus would plump for Aldergrove ahead of Birmingham.
Belfast International, which is owned by Spanish company Abertis, now handles five million passengers a year and is already a major hub for easyJet.
If Aer Lingus does launch a service from Aldergrove to Heathrow, it will be in direct competition with bmi's eight flights a day service from Belfast City.
But the possibility also emerged recently of British Airways re-starting the route from Aldergrove, which it axed as part of the fall-out from 9/11.
Willie Walsh, the BA boss who used to run Aer Lingus, told the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce in June that he would "love" to reinstate the route.
He said he regarded the service as having been "suspended" rather than axed, but said its revival hinged on an increase in runway capacity at Heathrow.
Meanwhile, a new report produced by the Irish Echo newspaper in the US reveals that more than half of transatlantic travellers in America would choose to fly into Belfast as opposed to Dublin if the costs were less.
Eileen Murphy, of the Irish Echo, said: "Our report, based on a survey of readers, suggests that given discussions around a new Aer Lingus hub for the British market out of Belfast, the airlines will do well to note that a majority of our respondents (57%) say they would choose Belfast over Dublin as their end destination if the route cost less."
Currently airport taxes add almost $90 to the cost of flights between Belfast and New York versus Dublin-New York.