George Best Belfast City Airport has today welcomed the arrival of its first flight from Barcelona operated by Vueling Airlines, one of Europe’s fastest growing airlines.
Owned by Willie Walsh’s International Airlines Group (IAG), the Spanish airline will operate a twice weekly service (Thursday and Sunday) between Belfast City Airport and its Barcelona El Prat base. This will increase to three times weekly from 23rd June with a Tuesday service.
Belfast City Airport is one of just a select few UK airports to be included within the Spanish airline’s ambitious growth strategy announced in late 2014.
Katy Best, Commercial and Marketing Director at Belfast City Airport, said:
“The arrival of Vueling to Northern Ireland is hugely exciting and significant given the airline’s fast paced growth and popularity in mainland Europe.
“As a low cost yet full service airline, Vueling places customer service at the centre of its operations and strategically selects airport partners which do the same.
“Not only is the airline the fastest growing member of IAG, but it is also one of the biggest low cost airlines in Europe carrying a high percentage of business passengers which makes it a perfect partner for Belfast City given our large business passenger base.
“In addition to the convenient access to Europe for business passengers, Barcelona is a very popular destination for tourists of all ages and presents a great opportunity to attract further inward tourism to the region.
“As an island, direct flights to destinations throughout the UK and Europe are of crucial importance and the airport’s ambition to grow our own European network has witnessed great success recently with the arrival of both Vueling, and KLM which will commence daily flights to Amsterdam on 18th May.”
The airline’s arrival comes following the announcement that Routes Europe 2017 is to be hosted in Belfast. Ms Best continued:
“Welcoming two new leading airlines to Belfast City Airport in just one month is an extremely exciting time for us, and evidence of our commitment to promoting the city and Northern Ireland as an outstanding destination, not only to the airlines but other tourism bodies.
“The Routes Europe Conference provides an opportunity for all these key decision makers and influencers to experience Belfast for themselves and for everyone involved to market the region like never before. We look forward to working with Government and playing a key role in fully capitalising on the conference.”
Also welcoming the arrival of Vueling to Northern Ireland was, Gerry Lennon, Chief Executive, Visit Belfast, who said:
“Today’s latest flight from Barcelona heralds another milestone in the tourism industry’s efforts to increase the number and range of flights directly into Belfast.
“We are really excited by the commitment made by George Best Belfast City Airport in attracting this new Vueling service, as it provides us with an even greater opportunity to attract international visitors from across the World to the Belfast City Region.”
Fares start at just £46.99 (one way including taxes) and can be booked at www.vueling.com/en
ENDS
For more information, please contact Alyson English at Lighthouse Communications on 0774 0513 547 or Alyson@lighthouseni.com
Flight Times
Departs Barcelona (BCN): 10:25 Arrives Belfast (BHD): 12:10
Departs Belfast (BHD): 13:10 Arrives Barcelona (BCN): 16:45
Ten things you did not know about Vueling:
- Vueling is a Barcelona based carrier which celebrated its tenth anniversary of operations in July 2014
- Vueling’s first ever flight was Barcelona to Ibiza on 1st July 2004
- 0.4 million passengers were carried in its first year of operations. This increased to 16 million in 2013
- The airline merged with Clickair in 2009
- Vueling is the fastest growing member of IAG
- Vueling is the world’s first airline to use contactless technology in its payment process app
- Vueling is a hugely popular European airline carrying a high percentage of business passengers
- The ‘Bring your flight forward’ feature on Vueling’s app allows customers to switch to an earlier flight on the day of travel in just a few seconds. At no extra cost, the
- service is intended to meet the demands especially of business travellers whose schedules are constantly changing.
- Vueling operates close to 300 routes across Europe, Russia and North Africa. In 2004, the airline had just 15 routes
- Vueling’s company slogan is ‘love the way you fly’
About Belfast City Airport
- George Best Belfast City Airport is owned by EISER Infrastructure Fund
- The airport has grown significantly in recent years serving a range of destinations throughout the UK and Europe
- Figures published by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority showed that George Best Belfast City Airport had more than 2.5m (2,555,111) passengers in 2014 – up 0.5% on 2013
- Airline partners include Aer Lingus, British Airways, Citywing, Flybe, KLM, Links Air and Vueling (KLM and Vueling both announced within the last six months and commencing Amsterdam and Barcelona routes respectively in May)
- Routes include: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Doncaster, Edinburgh, Faro, Inverness, Liverpool, London City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Malaga, Manchester, Newcastle, Palma
- Belfast City Airport is the only Northern Ireland airport to operate a London Heathrow service (served by both Aer Lingus and British Airways)
- Due to its close proximity to Belfast city centre, the airport attracts both business and leisure passengers
- Belfast City Airport is just five minutes’ drive from Belfast city centre and also the closest airport to Northern Ireland’s political hub – Stormont Parliament Buildings
- Due to Northern Ireland’s location, there is an extremely high propensity to fly
- More than £15million has been invested in the airport and its facilities in the last 4 years