George Best Belfast City Airport
George Best Belfast City Airport is a single-runway airport in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated in County Down, it is adjacent to the Port of Belfast and is from Belfast City Centre. It shares the site with the Short Brothers/Bombardier aircraft manufacturing facility. The airport began commercial operations in 1983, and was known as "Belfast City Airport" until it was renamed in 2006 in memory of George Best, the professional footballer from Belfast. The airport has a CAA public use aerodrome licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.
The airport primarily handles intra-UK flights. It handled over 2.4 million passengers in 2019, having peaked at 2.7 million in 2010. The airport was a major base for Flybe which began operations at the airport in 1993, and was the largest operator at Belfast City until its demise in 2020. Ground handling is provided by Swissport and Menzies Aviation, the latter also offering cargo handling services.
History
Early years
Sydenham Airport was established by Shorts beside its Belfast factory at Sydenham in 1937. It was opened on 16 March 1938 by Anne Chamberlain, the wife of then British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain. The inaugural flight was to Glasgow, Scotland. This became Belfast's main civilian airport from 1938 to 1939. The airfield was requisitioned by the Royal Navy during the Second World War and named HMS Gadwall. RAF Nutts Corner then became Belfast's main airport.In 1952, the runway was extended to its present. The Sydenham airfield continued to be used for military purposes until the 1970s, including use by the Fleet Air Arm as a naval aircraft storage unit, after which it was used solely by Shorts.
In 1983, following interest from airlines and customers, the airfield was opened for commercial flights as Belfast Harbour Airport.
Development from 2000 to 2010
A new terminal was officially opened on 3 June 2001. Following major capital investment Bombardier sold the airport in 2003 for £35 million to the Spanish company Ferrovial, the owner of BAA Airports. Ferrovial re-sold the airport in September 2008 for £132.5 million to ABN Amro Global Infrastructure Fund.In March 2006, it was announced that the airport would be renamed in memory of Northern Irish footballer George Best. The new name, George Best Belfast City Airport, and signage were revealed at the renaming ceremony attended by Best's family and friends on 22 May 2006, which would have been Best's 60th birthday. The renaming of the airport caused controversy, with many articles in local and national print media highlighting the mixed feelings of Belfast residents. Also in March 2006 Flybe announced that it would be naming its Belfast City – Manchester service after the footballer, dedicating a plane to him.
In October 2007 Ryanair established its 23rd base at the airport, operating five routes and carrying 800,000 annual passengers. The airline closed its Belfast City base in 2010 due to delays in the planned runway extension. The airline stated that would fly to European destinations from the airport if the runway was extended.
In January 2010 easyJet commenced flights to London Luton, though the airline moved the route back to Belfast International in 2011.
Manx2 moved its Isle of Man service to the airport in 2010, however the airline has since ceased operations.
Passenger numbers increased by 4.5% from 2,621,763 in 2009 to 2,740,341 in 2010, the highest total on record at the airport.
Development since 2011
In January 2011 Bmibaby moved its Belfast base to the airport, in order to keep its operation under one roof with sister airline BMI. The airline ceased operations from Belfast City Airport in June 2012.In October 2012 Aer Lingus moved its services from Belfast International to the Airport. The airline launched flights to five destinations, though has since reduced their operations to just one route. Spanish carrier Vueling launched summer-seasonal flights to Barcelona in May 2015, though the route was cancelled in late 2015. Dutch carrier KLM launched daily flights to Amsterdam in 2015, with flights operated by KLM Cityhopper. Brussels Airlines launched flights to Brussels in 2016, though the airline axed the route in 2017. In early 2017, Eastern Airways commenced flights to the Isle of Man following the demise of Citywing, though the airline axed the route in 2018. Icelandic carrier Air Iceland Connect commenced flights to Keflavik in 2017 on behalf of Icelandair, though the route was cancelled in 2018. Scottish airline Loganair commenced operations to Carlisle in 2019, followed by Dundee in 2020. Flybe, which operated 80% of flights and carried over 1.6 million passengers across 14 routes, ceased operations in March 2020. Subsequently, Loganair commenced flights to Aberdeen and Inverness.
Aer Lingus Group announced on 23 July 2020, it was to establish an Aer Lingus Regional base at the airport with 6 new routes to Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds/Bradford and Manchester with 5 based ATR72-600 aircraft and over 200 weekly flights planned to operate. The news was welcomed by Airport and Government officials in what was described as "an extremely challenging environment" during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Expansion plans and objections
As the airport is adjacent to residential areas, the issue of noise pollution is a major one and a source of public debate. The airport has developed a noise management strategy following a planning agreement, under which the airport operates, and has established operational noise abatement procedures.The airport has recently applied for a complete removal of the limit on the seats it can sell – a key element of the 1997 planning agreement, which guards against over-expansion of an airport which is sited in a densely populated location. As a result, numerous residents' groups have formed a coalition – The Coalition Against Belfast City Airport Expansion – to protest against the airport's proposed expansion plans, and to represent the views of residents at the Examination in Public held during 2006.
Restrictions applied to the airport include:
- The requirement for flights to be scheduled between 6:30 am and 9:30 pm. The exception to this is for delayed flights where extensions may be granted.
- That there would be a limit of 45,000 commercial aircraft movements in any year, restricted further in 2008 to 48,000 combined commercial and general aviation aircraft movements.
- That airlines must not offer more than 4 million seats for sale on flights from the airport per year.
- The majority of flights must approach and depart the airport over Belfast Lough, rather than over the city of Belfast.
- Any flight departing over the lough must turn left to head north at 500 feet. Only after reaching 2,000 feet or 3,000 feet may they then turn south to move over land again.
- Any flight departing over the city must head in a straight line until 2,000 feet or 3,000 feet before they are allowed to turn.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
Traffic figures
| Number of passengers | Number of movements | Freight | |
| 1997 | 1,285,712 | 37,592 | 1,247 |
| 1998 | 1,316,792 | 37,917 | 1,149 |
| 1999 | 1,284,148 | 35,781 | 773 |
| 2000 | 1,288,428 | 36,773 | 820 |
| 2001 | 1,192,897 | 35,158 | 509 |
| 2002 | 1,896,081 | 40,027 | 1,058 |
| 2003 | 1,975,202 | 34,523 | 1,177 |
| 2004 | 2,091,221 | 36,290 | 955 |
| 2005 | 2,237,219 | 40,443 | 516 |
| 2006 | 2,105,769 | 39,411 | 827 |
| 2007 | 2,186,993 | 43,022 | 1,057 |
| 2008 | 2,570,742 | 42,990 | 168 |
| 2009 | 2,621,763 | 39,330 | 138 |
| 2010 | 2,740,341 | 40,324 | 155 |
| 2011 | 2,397,312 | 41,844 | 457 |
| 2012 | 2,246,202 | 37,189 | 581 |
| 2013 | 2,541,759 | 38,051 | 527 |
| 2014 | 2,555,145 | 37,112 | 491 |
| 2015 | 2,692,713 | 41,782 | 551 |
| 2016 | 2,665,139 | 42,475 | 476 |
| 2017 | 2,559,846 | 36,332 | 317 |
| 2018 | 2,510,294 | 35,959 | 227 |
| 2019 | 2,445,529 | 34,625 |
ImageSize = width:auto height:250 barincrement:29
PlotArea = left:30 bottom:15 top:10 right:15
AlignBars = justify
Period = from:0 till:3
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
Colors =
id:gray value:gray
id:line1 value:gray
id:line2 value:gray
ScaleMajor = start:0 increment:1 gridcolor:line2
PlotData=
color:blue width:20
bar:1997 from:start till:1.285
bar:1998 from:start till:1.316
bar:1999 from:start till:1.284
bar:2000 from:start till:1.288
bar:2001 from:start till:1.192
bar:2002 from:start till:1.896
bar:2003 from:start till:1.975
bar:2004 from:start till:2.091
bar:2005 from:start till:2.237
bar:2006 from:start till:2.105
bar:2007 from:start till:2.186
bar:2008 from:start till:2.570
bar:2009 from:start till:2.621
bar:2010 from:start till:2.740
bar:2011 from:start till:2.397
bar:2012 from:start till:2.246
bar:2013 from:start till:2.541
bar:2014 from:start till:2.555
bar:2015 from:start till:2.692
bar:2016 from:start till:2.665
bar:2017 from:start till:2.559
bar:2018 from:start till:2.510
color:darkblue
bar:2019 from:start till:2.455
Busiest routes
| Rank | Airport | Total passengers | Change 2017 / 18 |
| 1 |  London–Heathrow | 655,338 | 5% |
| 2 | Manchester | 280,250 | 2% |
| 3 | Birmingham | 275,477 | 2% |
| 4 | London–City | 184,881 | 53% |
| 5 | Leeds Bradford | 165,858 | 1% |
| 6 | Edinburgh | 151,147 | 12% |
| 7 | East Midlands | 150,497 | 1% |
| 8 | Glasgow | 148,907 | 9% |
| 9 | Southampton | 128,209 | 8% |
| 10 | Cardiff | 70,784 | 39% |
| 11 |  Amsterdam | 49,648 | 7% |
| 12 | Aberdeen | 41,903 | 2% |
| 13 |  Málaga | 41,041 | 28% |
| 14 |  Faro | 39,674 | 29% |
| 15 | Exeter | 36,722 | 1% |