Ryanair return to Belfast International Airport this weekend with 15 new routes

RYANAIR will return to Belfast International on Sunday marking a significant up-scale in activity at the Aldergrove terminal.

The Irish carrier is launching 15 new routes from the airport in the next week.

Ryanair last pulled up the wheels at Belfast International at the end of October 2021, blaming the UK Government and Stormont over air passenger duty (APD) rates and a lack of Covid recovery incentives.

Its return comes as the UK Government prepares to enact a cut to APD on domestic flights from £13 to £6.50 from April 1.

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Ryanair is basing two new Boeing 737-800 aircraft at Belfast International, staffed by a flying crew of 60, which the airline previously said represents an investment of around $200 million.

It’s a major boost for Belfast International Airport, which this year expects to exceed the record 6.28 million passengers which passed through the terminal during its last pre-pandemic year in 2019.

Flights to London Stansted, Manchester and Krakow on Sunday will kick off a busy six days for Ryanair in the north.

Flights to Budapest launch on Tuesday, followed new flights to Alicante, Barcelona Girona, Malaga, Milan Bergamo and Edinburgh on Wednesday.

Palma de Mallorca, East Midlands, Cardiff and Faro will launch on Thursday, with Paris and Gdansk commencing Friday.

Ryanair plan to add a 16th route in May, when it will start flying to Valencia from Belfast International. It will result in a total of around 140 weekly flights across all routes.

The Irish carrier’s sole operation in the north in recent times has at City of Derry Airport, where it flies to Manchester.

The popularity of that service will see it increase to eight flights per week from April.