Almost a year after hosting Routes Europe, key stakeholders from Belfast explain how Northern Ireland is aiming to capitalise on the strength of its tourism offer to attract new air services to the region.
Belfast’s senior aviation and tourism leaders agreed at a press conference that increased air connections are vital to the future of the ‘undiscovered part of Ireland’, and that route development is the key.
The new Belfast City route will commence from June 1, 2017 and will be operated using a 72-seat Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 turboprop. It will operate from Keflavik International Airport in Iceland, providing extensive connection options to the Transatlantic network of Icelandair from the mid-Atlantic island as well as support growing business and leisure flows into Iceland which is becoming an increasingly popular leisure destination.
A growing tourism industry and increased business investment make Northern Ireland’s capital city of Belfast an exciting destination for Routes Europe 2017.
Today (Tuesday, 26 April) the Routes Europe air service development forum was officially handed over from Kraków in Poland to Belfast in Northern Ireland – the destination for 2017.
The Northern Irish city will take on hosting duties for Routes Europe 2017. Hosted by Invest NI and Discover Belfast, they will show what the city has to offer as not only host, but as a destination.
Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, and is the second largest on the island of Ireland. Known for its history and culture, Belfast is a thriving city with a population of just over 280,000.
It has been a busy few weeks at Belfast International Airport as leisure carrier Jet2.com, low-cost carrier Wizz Air and low-fare giant easyJet have launched new air services or expanded their schedules from Northern Ireland’s largest air gateway. But the airport is still working hard to further improve Northern Ireland access as its strong delegation at this year’s Routes Europe in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK showed.
The hosting of Routes Europe in the Northern Ireland capital, Belfast, in April 2017 will bring significant benefits to the city, country and entire Ireland, said Minister Arlene Foster, head of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in the Northern Ireland Executive at the formal announcement of the 2017 edition of the forum.
