Interesting to see Aer Lingus using 319 on LGW BHD this morning, outside of operating the Tuesday evening LGW BHD sector ( non BHD crew ) on some weeks, the summer schedule has been largely 320.

BE launch LCY tomorrow, will be of note as to where they draw there passengers from, my suspicion is LHR. My guess is the LCY route will attract about 2200 pax per month. We'll have to wait for Christmas until Nov statistics come out to verify that.

320 initially tech so 319 used as it was needed for the earlier departure. 320 used on Lhr once it was fixed

I think we will all be surprised given the load actors booked and it's not just a one off tomorrow is the first proper day of operations and overall on all 6 flights to LCY and back to BHD the load factor is 64%.

Not bad for first day of operation and where the flights are capped at 71

VY BHD-BCN, twice weekly from May. More to follow. :ok:

Now confirmed on Belfast City Airport website:

Belfast City Airport - News | Recent Stories | Belfast City Ariport

Hopefully they will fly on the days EZY don't. While it would have been nice to see a totally new route in the market, the competition should help bring prices down which seem to be ever upward in the Belfast market, particular into sunshine destinations. Vueling have plenty of bases they could route flights in from however.

Any new routes / operators are welcome. As Mart901 suggested in would be great if on days EZY did not operate. If on same days then prices may be very keen as BCN numbers were fairly flat this year

Surprising but very good news. I wonder if the seemingly successful return of BA to Belfast has influenced this decision. Vueling have an extensive list of European hubs and bases which could help support further growth in the future without the need to base any aircraft should this experiment be a success.

I would think the iag connection was the deal breaker tbh over BFS

airport66
 

Two airlines doing this route should not be a problem 2 have done it before at Bfs -Easyjet did 4 flights a week and Aerlingus did 3/4 per week just pity airlines would stop duplicating same routes and bring something new in.

Can you interline with veuling through there network? If so they really could be onto a winner withthis one.

Blinder! No one seen that coming

Nice move in terms of derisking the european operation reliance on Aer Lingus.

At CWL Vueling stepped into the breach when bmibaby packed up. Equally, BHD has a second airline who will have some experience in the market and should EI ever bow out, the city airport have a second airline within reach. And with multiple bases including Paris, Malaga, Toulouse etc. perhaps we could see more should BCN deliver.

VY have good experience competing with easyJet and seem comfortable with same. I think they will get a nice slice of the market, though the challenge will be marketing a brand on this side of route that most will not have heard of to date.

Re: brand awareness; stick a BA codeshare on it and advertise it as a BA service operated by Vueling? Should do the trick nicely until people start to learn who Vueling are.

Vueling
 

Operates Thur and Sun between May-October with a Tues flight between late June and early September.

So 3 weekly, that's good. Can't see any fares loaded yet. Wonder if EI will announce any new routes, Christoph Mueller did say a long while back he wanted higher frequency to London, particularly LHR.

most normals just think ba means expensive, by all means do the codeshare but go for marketing them in their own right...what are they, europes 3rd largest lcc or something like that?

Think they are fourth, after Norwegian

I hope BCN is only the start. KLM CITYHOPPER name keeps resurfacing around the trade as does the BA to LGW twice a day chat. Either would be a bonus

Why oh why would BA do LGW?