Cheap Flights from Belfast

The city of Belfast is served by two airports, one being mainly for domestic routes and the other which offers more international destinations.

Belfast International Airport (airport code BFS) is located about 13 miles from Belfast near the village of Aldergrove, and the Royal Air Force base at Aldergrove uses the same runways. Belfast International is the busiest airport in Northern Ireland, the second busiest in Ireland and the 11th busiest in the United Kingdom. The airport serves more than 40 cities with scheduled flights, and many more with its charter services. In amongst the European carriers at Belfast there is Continental Airlines, which flies regular direct flights to Newark Airport near New York City.

The airlines with the most destinations served on regularly scheduled flights are easyJet and Jet2.com, and there are just as many - if not more - charter and holiday airlines operating at Belfast International as there are passenger airlines. For a complete look at all the destinations served from Belfast International Airport, see the maps on this page.

While the nearest railway station is six miles from the airport at Antrim and there is no bus connection linking the two, it is possible to reach Belfast International from the city centre of Belfast on the Airbus 300 bus operated by Translink. The pick up point in Belfast is the Translink Europa Buscentre. If you prefer to drive, the airport is reached by taking the M2 to junction 5 and then connecting to the A57. To further research your transport options, navigate through the menu on the left side of this page.

The George Best Belfast City Airport (airport code BHD) is also in Belfast, and is actually much closer to the city centre than Belfast International. The airport is a short two miles from the city centre, so is incredibly convenient for travellers who are making domestic flights within the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Most of the carriers serving Belfast City Airport are budget airlines, with the busiest schedule being maintained by Flybe. Ryanair will begin service from Belfast City in late 2007 to three destinations, making it the airport's second busiest carrier. Maps showing all the cities you can reach from George Best Belfast City Airport are located on this page.

Reaching the airport is simple. By car, the airport is on the A2 between Belfast and Holywood. Because the airport is so close to the city centre, a taxi should be fairly cheap. For an even more inexpensive method of transport, however, the Airlink bus should take no more than 15 minutes if traffic is not bad. Alternately, the Sydenham railway station has regular shuttle bus service which connects it to the airport. You can read more about your transport choices here.

George Best Airport has not seen extraordinary growth in recent years, although passenger traffic has increased somewhat, but expansion plans for the airport have been proposed and consequently led to protests. Because of the airport's proximity to residential areas, noise pollution is a major concern. One potential solution is to use the existing Holywood Exchange development for airport access.