Emerald Airlines, the Aer Lingus Regional operator, has announced two new routes from Belfast City to Newcastle and East Midlands following the collapse of Flybe. Flights to East Midlands will launch at the end of March followed by Newcastle flights from late April.
Aer Lingus announces two new Belfast routes
As reported by anna.aero, the Irish carrier will bolster its network from Belfast City Airport (BHD) with two new routes to Newcastle International Airport (NCL) and East Midlands Airport (EMA) operated by Aer Lingus Regional airline Emerald Airlines. BHD to EMA will commence on March 26th with an initial daily flight - upping to two daily services from mid-April - while a daily flight between BHD and NCL will launch on April 28th.
Ciarán Smith, Head of Commercial at Emerald Airlines, commented,
"We are very pleased to be strengthening our schedule out of Belfast City Airport. As the demand for travel options from Belfast only increases, these two new routes will no doubt be warmly welcomed."
After taking over Aer Lingus Regional operations from Stobart Air, Emerald Airlines has been operating for less than 12 months and reached the milestone of one million passengers carried last month. Along with Newcastle and East Midlands, the regional airline will be launching flights to Jersey and Newquay from Belfast City this spring - its new destinations will join Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, and Southampton from the Northern Irish capital.
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Stepping in for Flybe
Aer Lingus will be filling the vacancy left by Flybe a week after the airline was placed into administration - in fact, Belfast to Newcastle and East Midlands were the only two routes served exclusively by the now-defunct regional carrier. Simple Flying broke the news of Flybe 2.0's collapse just weeks after the regional airline had announced its summer schedule, which included ten destinations from Belfast City.
Katy Best, Commercial Director at Belfast City Airport, said,
"Following the collapse of Flybe, East Midlands and Newcastle were the airline’s only destinations not served by other carriers from Belfast City Airport. Having Emerald Airlines step-up and operate the Aer Lingus Regional services on both routes, in addition to its already extensive network from Belfast City, is therefore excellent news as it leaves no Flybe destination unserved."
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Belfast growth continues
Emerald Airlines will add over 180,000 seats to its Belfast City schedule this summer and operate over 400 weekly flights from the airport at its peak. As for its overall summer schedule, the carrier will have over 1.5 million seats on offer across 27 routes and could continue its expansion with more routes.
Smith added,
"Earlier this week we announced that we will be adding 15,000+ seats immediately across our existing network from Belfast City, and we will continue to grow these services in the months ahead."
The regional airline recently suggested it was looking at launching services between Cork Airport (ORK) and Bristol Airport (BRS) previously served by former Aer Lingus Regional airline Stobart Air.
Are you happy to see these two new routes from Belfast City? Where do you think Aer Lingus Regional should expand to? Let us know in the comments.
Source: anna.aero, Aviacionline