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Loganair to launch rival Belfast City to Teesside service in February

Loganair currently operates four routes from Belfast City Airport.
Loganair currently operates four routes from Belfast City Airport. Loganair currently operates four routes from Belfast City Airport.

SCOTTISH airline Logainair is to launch a rival route from Belfast to Teesside International Airport.

Eastern Airways launched its service from Belfast City Airport to the English destination in March 2020.

Now Loganair is preparing to go head-to-head on the route from February next year.

The regional airline currently flies to four destinations from Belfast City Airport, all in Scotland.

Teesside International Airport is located between Middlesbrough and Darlington.

Loganair has announced plans to operate five additional routes from the regional hub in 2021: Belfast City, Dublin, Aberdeen, Newquay and Jersey.

Eastern Airways, Loganair and Aer Lingus Regional have all staked their claim during 2020 to the air routes vacated following the demise of Flybe.

The failed regional airline had operated 14 routes from Belfast City Airport, accounting for around 80 per cent of air traffic.

In July, Aer Lingus announced it would take on six of the routes with a new hub based at Belfast City.

Eastern Airways last month announced plans to reopen the former Flybe route between Belfast City Airport and Cardiff from January 2021.

Alongside its Southampton service, it will increase its destinations from Belfast City to three.

Loganair also operates a route between City of Derry Airport and London Stansted.

It took over the publicly funded service following the collapse of Flybmi in February 2019.

The Scottish airline switched the London service to Southend for a period last year, but it returned to Stansted in May.

Loganair had previously operated routes from Derry to Glasgow and Manchester, but it pulled the Manchester route after just six months last year.

It resumed flights to Glasgow over the summer, but pulled the service again.

The impact of Covid-19 on air travel has resulted in Ryanair and Easyjet slashing their offering from Belfast International Airport.

Ryanair will operate just two winter routes, while Easyjet has suspended November flights to five key British airports during November in response to the latest lockdown in England.