Oh and by the way the population of Northern Ireland at 1.8 million is 5th largest county in England not smallest.
And what about Shannon having all the transatlantic flights it has? Surely if a wee town like that can have links then a country can have more?
Northen Ireland has never been a "country" anymore than Wales ever was. With the Belfast market segmented between easyJet/Jet2 and everyone else at BHD. Hardly ideal.
The absolute best BFS would get might be a weekly TS A330 or similar but competing with Air Canada Rouge and Aer Lingus at nearby Dublin or a one stop connection out of BHD over LHR, all at much greater frequency.
Not sure how they grow either airport, one's remote and the other's physically constrained.