It seems that Aer Lingus will be pulling its Belfast City Airport to London Gatwick services next year.
Aer Lingus Airbus A320 at Birmingham Airport – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The three times a day service between Belfast City and Gatwick will be pulled on 26th March 2016 to release slots that are required when International Airlines Group brought Aer Lingus.
Passengers booked on flights beyond 27th March 2016 will be accommodated either on Belfast City to London Heathrow services, Dublin to Gatwick services or a full refund.
Whilst the loss of the route is unfortunate, its a small price for IAG to pay for the prize that is Aer Lingus and its hub at Dublin Airport.
And as for the leftover slots? Another Irish airline appears to be sniffing around them. It seems Ryanair has interest in operating from Gatwick to Belfast International.
Why not Belfast City? Belfast City does have operational restrictions in terms of runway length and operation times… which caused Ryanair to walk away in 2010.
There maybe new capacity coming, but this puts Ryanair into a one-on-one direct competition between it and EasyJet – who have a base and operations centre at Belfast International…
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