BELFAST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - BFS (Aldergrove)
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gate22 I've thought this would be obvious for airlines too! But I once muted this idea on the Aer Lingus thread and was told there wouldn't be any new long haul routes for the next 2 years at the very least.
BFS could do with a Boston route etc. And I'm surprised Air Canada haven't been sniffing around either.
I would love to see Virgin Atlantic move into DUB testing the market there with possibility of moving northwards to BFS.
EI I think hold the hope for the time being though!
BFS could do with a Boston route etc. And I'm surprised Air Canada haven't been sniffing around either.
I would love to see Virgin Atlantic move into DUB testing the market there with possibility of moving northwards to BFS.
EI I think hold the hope for the time being though!
Join Date: Feb 2009
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EI I think hold the hope for the time being though!
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Greater Aldergrove
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At least for summer season, BFS could justify a single based aircraft for transatlantic.
CO are doing well on JFK, so there is a market. NI could certainly support a single rotation to MCO / SFB each summer week, and one or two YYZ rotations. Add in a few to BOS / JFK, and EI or VS could make it work.
Maybe with the arrival of 787s at VS, they'll be able to look at thinner routes from the regions.
Also, maybe we're missing the obvious...CO are in place and doing well. What else could they offer? (Although MAN / BHX etc. may get the chance first).
CO are doing well on JFK, so there is a market. NI could certainly support a single rotation to MCO / SFB each summer week, and one or two YYZ rotations. Add in a few to BOS / JFK, and EI or VS could make it work.
Maybe with the arrival of 787s at VS, they'll be able to look at thinner routes from the regions.
Also, maybe we're missing the obvious...CO are in place and doing well. What else could they offer? (Although MAN / BHX etc. may get the chance first).
Join Date: Aug 2002
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CO are doing well on JFK
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: North East UK
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APD
Before we get all carried away with ourselves don't forget that there's the more than slight problem of a UK Government tax that goes by the initials of APD. £60 on a transatlantic return ticket and £0 from Dublin is a major difference which will favour Dublin over Belfast any day of the week. Work hard to keep hold of what you have got and do not dilute it as every extra penny in yield is vital.
Join Date: Mar 2008
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CO do really well all year round on the BFS EWR route.The UK government really need to sort out taxes on flying as we are right up their in the being ripped of bracket.However,more and more people are now seeing the benefits of flying direct from BFS to the USA.1,Why would you fly east to go west and 2,With the cost of petrol and Dublin Airport parking charges why would you want to undertake a 200 mile round trip before or after a transatlantic flight.The saving you might get from the lower flying taxes at Dublin would be swallowed up in petrol and parking charges....Lets get Toronto back first before we even think about Chicago and/or Boston...
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Northern ireland
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Trans atlantic
CO do not do JFK but do EWR. I flew BFS - EWR on 13 March and back 25th and virtually full both times. Don't forget EI did BFS - Shannon - JFK for several years (with a change of aircraft at Shannon to get to Boston. Maybe preclearance at Shannon could make this viable again. Can't see Air Canada sniffing around - it did do Toronto many years ago but with its daily in summer from Dublin plus Air Transat several times a week from Dub (and weekly Sunwing charter rumoured this year) I think Canade is sewn up (more than half the NI population live around 2 hours from Dub). I wonder however if Vancover or Halifax was viable for Zoom
MCO/Sandford is the really surprising one. A few years ago the season was March to October and with 2 a week in the peak. Now its just peak. Whilst EI is 3 a week from Dub, I assume many go via LGW/Man with BA or Virgin. In addition, Sanford is quite a drive from Orlando.
MCO/Sandford is the really surprising one. A few years ago the season was March to October and with 2 a week in the peak. Now its just peak. Whilst EI is 3 a week from Dub, I assume many go via LGW/Man with BA or Virgin. In addition, Sanford is quite a drive from Orlando.
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The other two in question will be another brand new and another returning and both mainland european.
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Greater Aldergrove
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I knew it was Newark!
Brain fade folks...been on it a few times as well! Not JFK, but EWR...
The APD issue is a fair one...driving to DUB now isn't so bad, and T2 will make the whole experience much more comfortable. Throw in pre-clearance, and DUB is tempting. But BFS is still very handy for must of us, and pretty straightforward to get through. BFS allows most of us to start our journey from home two to three hours before departure...choose DUB and you're probably talking four to five hours. With a transatlantic flight to follow, the argument may come back to BFS...
The APD issue is a fair one...driving to DUB now isn't so bad, and T2 will make the whole experience much more comfortable. Throw in pre-clearance, and DUB is tempting. But BFS is still very handy for must of us, and pretty straightforward to get through. BFS allows most of us to start our journey from home two to three hours before departure...choose DUB and you're probably talking four to five hours. With a transatlantic flight to follow, the argument may come back to BFS...
Join Date: Jul 2009
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dont shoot the messenger, but ive heard more rumours from within the airline itself, that Continental are looking very carefully at the increases in charges, and are going to ask the Government to drop them or they'll throw the rattle out of the pram and leave Belfast. Id like to hope this isnt true, ive used the service and cant fault them, though next time i'll be using Dublin, so we dont get the 'handled like a criminal' treatment on arrival into Newark
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Belfast
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I also noticed that Sunwing Airlines are starting a route to Toronto-Pearson from Dublin. I think they are doing Paris as well. Maybe these guys will decide to try from BFS. If they are doing it from DUB they probably wont go to BFS. Dublin have more than enough routes to Toronto and we have none, you would think there is some logic in trying out BFS. i suppose its all about the landing fees and Government taxes
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Northern ireland
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BFS-EWR
Arrived EWR 13 March from BFS and was certainly not treated like a criminal - 10 minute queue and pleasant official. Don't forget clearance at DUB is carried out by staff working for the same organisation as those at EWR
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think we would all expect CO to review the route, after the taxes were brought up in the media story awhile ago.. and until these taxes are changed, DUB will always win over BFS when it comes to transatlantic... its up to the politicians to put pressure on the government to change them or risk losing our only scheduled year round direct link from N.Ireland to America..
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Belfast
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As I said on the BHD thread
How kind of them to "make the concept easy to understand" by moving their Luton flights back to BFS. From my point of view the concept is simple.
Taxi from Casa FF to BHD (Valucabs) - £6.50
Taxi from Casa FF to BFS (Valucabs) - £25.00 at least
Taxi from BHD to Casa FF (Valucabs) - £6.50
Taxi from BFS to Casa FF (Valucabs) - £25.00 at least
Public transport from Casa FF to BFS and back - £24.40
Public transport from Casa FF to BHD and back - £10.40 (ridiculous you can't use metro smart tickets on this service anymore. It doesn't really encourage you to use public transport).
There's absolutely no point in us booking domestic flights from BFS. We only go there for holiday flights.
How kind of them to "make the concept easy to understand" by moving their Luton flights back to BFS. From my point of view the concept is simple.
Taxi from Casa FF to BHD (Valucabs) - £6.50
Taxi from Casa FF to BFS (Valucabs) - £25.00 at least
Taxi from BHD to Casa FF (Valucabs) - £6.50
Taxi from BFS to Casa FF (Valucabs) - £25.00 at least
Public transport from Casa FF to BFS and back - £24.40
Public transport from Casa FF to BHD and back - £10.40 (ridiculous you can't use metro smart tickets on this service anymore. It doesn't really encourage you to use public transport).
There's absolutely no point in us booking domestic flights from BFS. We only go there for holiday flights.
Join Date: Feb 2006
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And I will now start using Ltn again as I will no longer have to drive past my local airport to use the Ltn service.
Tell me to mind my own business if I'm being nosy but why does it have to be Luton? To me, the direct rail connection at Stansted makes it the more attractive of the two. Standing in the cold at the Luton bus stop isn't the most uplifting of experiences.
Your post does sum up the problem I have with Belfast International's name. You live in Ballymena and call it your local airport. Wouldn't it be more accurate to call it "Northern Ireland Regional" or something similar.
Tell me to mind my own business if I'm being nosy but why does it have to be Luton? To me, the direct rail connection at Stansted makes it the more attractive of the two. Standing in the cold at the Luton bus stop isn't the most uplifting of experiences.
Your post does sum up the problem I have with Belfast International's name. You live in Ballymena and call it your local airport. Wouldn't it be more accurate to call it "Northern Ireland Regional" or something similar.