Weak pound boosts Aldergrove
INCREASING numbers of travellers are flocking to Belfast International Airport from the Republic to avoid Dublin congestion and make the most of the weak pound.
In recent years many Ulster flyers have made the journey south to take flights from the expanding Dublin airport, taking advantage of vastly improving road links between the two key cities north and south of the border.
But currency exchange rates, increasing links between the Republic and Northern Ireland, Aer Lingus's relocation from Shannon to Belfast and frustration at the notoriously heavy Dublin traffic have contributed to a recent surge in holidaymakers and business travellers crossing the border to fly from Aldergrove.
The airport said that its overall traffic was up on last year and it was expecting to carry "well over" five million passengers this year.
"The euro has really helped us this year," a spokeswoman said.
"In previous years we would have seen traffic going to Dublin airport because of the exchange rate.
"Because of the way that the pound has gone, we've seen a reverse in that.
"We are particularly seeing people coming from Donegal and Sligo, where they think: 'Dublin's such a nightmare to get through, maybe I'll come to Belfast.'
"Aer Lingus flying from Belfast also has an impact because they recognise the brand."
George Best Belfast City Airport, which has few direct scheduled flights to continental destinations and none to north American cities – where currency differences would have the biggest impact – said it had little evidence of increased demand from the Republic.
But the airport, which was sold for a huge profit last month, has seen its overall number of flights soar by 27 per cent over the last year, making it the fastest growing airport in the UK.
Bob Schumacher, senior director of Continental Airlines in the UK and Ireland, said his company was experiencing strong demand for flights out of Belfast.
"We're still doing very well out of the Province," he said,
"We've grown our seats in the Northern Ireland market this year and instead of reducing winter operations by two flights a week, this year we are only reducing by one.
"We continue to grow our ticket sales on the island of Ireland and most of those sales are from the north.
"Anecdotally, we are seeing more Republic of Ireland plates in the car parks because of the purchasing power that comes with the strong euro.
"But the counter-balance to that is the aviation passenger duty which makes our fares slightly higher."
However, he said that the number of Americans flying into the Province was falling.
"The whole of Europe's so punishingly expensive for them, but it's not down by a huge amount and the fall in Americans travelling into Ireland is much less than the falls in Americans flying into mainland Europe."
And a spokesman for Aer Lingus, which started flying from Belfast International Airport in December, said it had already comfortably exceeded its target of carrying 500,000 passengers during its first year and was seeing "no demonstrable slowdown" in traffic.
He said that demand for new winter routes to Munich, Milan and Lanzarote had been strong and that overall the airline was “encouraged by bookings”.
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Weather for Belfast
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Heavy rain
Temperature: 8 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
