BUSINESS and leisure travellers - as well as footie fans - are welcoming the decision by low cost carrier Ryanair to add Manchester to its list of destinations served from Belfast International Airport.
A daily service commences at the end of March, and it will compete directly with easyJet, who also fly to Manchester from Aldergrove.
The new link is part of a wider Ryanair announcement to invest $300 million (£210m) at Manchester airport with an extra three-based aircraft for its peak summer 2018 schedule.
That will add 300,000 extra seats on 57 routes, including 10 new destinations - Agadir, Almeria, Barcelona Reus, Belfast, Cagliari, Palermo, Ponta Delgada, Porto, Rhodes, & Venice Treviso.
Belfast International Airport has welcomed the Ryanair decision to add capacity to an air corridor growing in importance to Northern Ireland.
The airport’s business development director Uel Hoey said: “Ryanair knows that Manchester is a major commercial centre and that demand from Northern Ireland more than justifies this decision.
“This will be a seven-day a-week, year-round service that will strengthen access. It will have very clear consumer benefits to a market of over 2.5 million and which has developed a reputation as a centre for creative industries.
“Ryanair’s announcement enhances Northern Ireland’s air connectivity and is a welcome boost for the airport and the regional economy.”
In addition to Manchester and Stansted, Ryanair’s route network out of Belfast International includes Berlin, Milan, Malta, five Spanish and four Polish destinations.
Manchester is the UK's third biggest airport and last year carried 27.8 million passengers to more than 200 destinations.
Future developments include an £800 million Manchester Airport City logistics, manufacturing, office and hotel space next to the airport and infrastructural improvements such as a new relief road and a High Speed 2 station.
