Aer Lingus to open eight new routes from Belfast

Irish airline Aer Lingus is to open eight new routes from Belfast International to London and Europe.

Destinations include Heathrow, Amsterdam, Budapest and Rome, airline industry sources confirmed today.

However, Heathrow slots from Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland will be axed to make way for Belfast.

Hundreds of new jobs will be created by the decision to base three aircraft in Belfast, the first centre outside the Irish Republic for the air carrier.

The first flights will take off in October or November with Heathrow early next year.

The source said: “The potential for growth that exists out of Belfast is one that Aer Lingus would want to pursue.

“There would be significant potential, whether its stability, whether it is business confidence.”

Aer Lingus is expected to also confirm tomorrow routes from Belfast to Barcelona; Geneva; Faro and Malaga.

BMI has enjoyed a monopoly on the Heathrow route from Belfast City Airport since British Airways pulled out in 2003.

The Irish airline is also expected to announce plans allowing passengers to travel onwards with British Airways and Dutch carrier KLM from their London and Amsterdam hubs to destinations worldwide.

There will be three flights a day to Heathrow and two daily to Amsterdam. The others will have two to five services a week.

It could boost passenger numbers at the International Airport by 800,000 a year to over five million annually.

Belfast fought off competition from Birmingham for Aer Lingus’ investment.

The company, facing price wars at its Dublin centre from Ryanair, has cut costs to reduce fares.

Several international routes from Belfast, including Rome and Geneva, will have more than one carrier.

Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion will meet staff at Shannon Airport tomorrow ahead of the Aldergrove announcement at Stormont near Belfast.

However Clare County Council chairperson Patricia McCarthy warned if the Heathrow route from Shannon is sacrificed it would be a major body blow for the west of the country.

“The Heathrow slot is a very important one,” the independent councillor said.

“It‘s going to be a devastating blow, not just for Shannon but for the whole of the west of Ireland and really it‘s a turning of the back by Aer Lingus on Shannon.

“It‘s just a black bad day. They were lucrative routes and good routes and it‘s very hard to understand.”

The airline today launched the first of three new long haul routes to cities in the United States from Dublin Airport.

Passengers left on the first flight to Washington’s Dulles Airport.

Flights to Orlando and San Francisco will begin operating in October.

The new routes will increase the company‘s US destinations from four to seven and will mean it will carry up to 6,200 extra passengers across the Atlantic each week.

Aer Lingus is the first European airline to launch a new route under the EU/US Open Skies deal agreed earlier this year, which will liberalise trans-Atlantic air travel.

Mr Mannion said: “The removal of constraints on Aer Lingus’ expansion into the US is hugely significant for both the airline and the country.

“Over one million North Americans visited Ireland in 2006 and TourismIreland expects these numbers could grow to 1.6 million visitors over the next six years thanks to Open Skies.

“Aer Lingus has already taken delivery of two new long haul aircraft this year - our first new long haul aircraft in six years – and will double its long haul fleet to 14 by 2014 in an investment worth US $2.4 billion (£1.7bn).

“Securing the capital necessary to fund Aer Lingus’ growth plans and take full advantage of Open Skies was a major factor in the decision to privatise Aer Lingus.”