BFS is 19.4 miles away from Belfast city centre. If BFS can't be Belfast then should CDG and FCO lose their 'Paris' and 'Rome' titles, as they're the same distance away from Paris and Rome as BFS is from Belfast. Or what about JFK (20.7 miles), MUC (23.7 miles), DEN (27.3 miles)? BFS isn't in the city centre, but it sure is Belfast's main airport.

Tongue. Cheek.

Well we have a choice of airport and for that I am grateful.

So lets leave aside all the politics of which airport is best etc etc save to say there are still 2 commercial entities that are in healthy competition and we are not dealing with a duplicate government dept that can be consolidated at the whim of some faceless civil servant. :cool:

Would anyone have a crystal ball and predict where NI aviation will be in 10 years time, if thats a bit ambitious maybe 5 years! I wonder will Aldergrove be another Heathrow by that stage, maybe Harbour will be a small biz jet airfield and Eglinton will be????

Or maybe it will just be groundhog day with the same old arguments and debates, I suppose that is one thing we are all experts at in good old Ulster.:p

Well Pan... I would suggest that if the current model exits then margins will be tight at both facilities, thus no real investment at both apart from little capital projects here and there within each facility. Thus stagnant!

What I would like to see is BHD closed and turned into a useful urban space - which would make much more money for the current owner than what is on offer at present. It would also improve the well being of 10,000s of folk living under the flight path at the moment.
BFS would have to accommodate 8m passengers per annum in the current climate, thus would have to build a proper facility to cope. Public bodies would have to invest in infrastructure to and from the airport. Everybody happy! Belfast would become a normal city within aviation terms for the size of its market. Until that happens stagnation will be the norm.

If I could dream then one airport for NI with proper infrastructure in terms of road and rail connections. Proper terminal building. Not to start a debate but I feel BFS is the better location. Now back to my dream 💤💤💤💤

Eastern Airways announces Belfast - Newcastle route


A new regional air link is to be provided between Belfast City airport and Newcastle.
Daily weekday flights are to be run by Eastern Airways from September 1.
Fares start at £59 one-way, including taxes and charges.
Eastern Airways started its first scheduled service from Belfast City earlier this year by securing the future of flights to the Isle of Man following the liquidation of Citywing.
The new route announcement comes a month after Eastern Airways entered into a partnership with Belfast City’s largest carrier Flybe via a franchise agreement starting on October 29.
Eastern Airways head of commercial Mathew Herzberg said: “This new non-stop service from Belfast City Airport is not only providing a convenient link to the busy commercial centre of Newcastle, but it’s also the gateway to the rest of the north east of England including Northumberland, Sunderland and Teesside.

Don't get to excited. It's just the Ncl/Iom/Bhd routing Ncl/Bhd/Iom and vice versa.

From 1st September the route of the aircraft is NCL-BHD-IOM-BHD-NCL, so both BHD-IOM and BHD-NCL will be non stop flights.

That's what I just said.

Easyjet will be quaking in their Airbuses!

The flying monkeys cage has been rattled again

EI have put AGP/FAO on sale for 2018 both start 1 May. Others may not return IMO but early days.

Is this one month later than the start dates for this year? Think they started at the beginning of the summer schedule (late March 2017)

Death by a thousand shamrocks going on.

Yeah April start 4 or 5 weekly mostly.

In all fairness if it's not going to pay them there's little or no point. Last year and previous years they've put the flights on sale at the same time as EZY and in comparison with LS and the charter operators this is way too late. Normally PMI and ALC are announced later but obviously this may or may not happen.

Easter on 1 April 2018 will not of helped in making the decision. If it was mid April I am sure they would of started earlier.

Any word on the other routes EIA330-300

No idea but given they are ending in August combined with the pain that W routes are one wouldn't hold out much hope.