Home  News Ryanair announce Stansted - Belfast route
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Ryanair announce Stansted - Belfast route |
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Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary announced yesterday (07.09.07) that Belfast City Airport will become the budget airline's 23rd hub, and unveiled plans for a new route to Stansted Airport, promising to be the cheapest on the London - Belfast route.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary announced yesterday (07.09.07) that Belfast City Airport will become the budget airline's 23rd hub, and unveiled plans for a new route to Stansted Airport, promising to be the cheapest on the London - Belfast route.
Ryanair announced in July that it was starting services on October 30 from Belfast City to Liverpool, East Midlands and Glasgow Prestwick. Now Stansted, which is currently served by Air Berlin, will be added to its Belfast route network.
The new route, which will take off on October 30 and operate four times daily, comes after German budget airline Air Berlin announced it would scrap its Belfast - Stansted flights last week. Ryanair also announced that the Belfast to Liverpool service is being expanded to two daily flights instead of the planned single rotation.
Mr. O'Leary also announced that Ryanair would be basing one of its new £35m Boeing 737-800 aircraft at Belfast City. He said that 600,000 Ryanair passengers would be using City Airport in the next 12 months, generating a visitor spend of £100m.
The move by the airline comes just a month after Aer Lingus said it was opening its first base outside the Republic at the nearby Belfast International Airport. Mr. O'Leary said that he expects the new route from Belfast will be more profitable and attract more customers, than Aer Lingus' planned service from Belfast International Airport to London Heathrow.
Mr. O'Leary claims that its arrival will end what it called the 'high fare stranglehold' imposed by bmi and easyJet, and promised the cheapest fares on the Belfast - London route. To celebrate the move, the airline is offering 100,000 free seats - excluding taxes and charges - on its new Belfast routes.
Brian Ambrose, chief executive of Belfast City, said they were delighted by Mr. O'Leary's announcement. He said: 'This is great news for the economy and for tourism in Northern Ireland.'
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