Travel: Flights to Belfast City

Belfast has two airports:

• George Best Belfast City Airport (airport code BHD) - is just 2 miles from Belfast city centre, with magnificient views of the city of Belfast or Belfast Lough offered to passengers on approach and departure. The airport principally serves routes to domestic UK and Ireland, however bmi and BA Connecthave extensive worldwide connections through their respective long haul networks and alliances. Airlines using the airport include:

• • Aer Arann to Cork
  • Air Berlin to London Stansted (connections to Dusseldorf, Hanover, Leipzig, Münster/Osnabruck, Nuremberg, Paderborn and Vienna)
  • BA Connect to Manchester (connections to BA's international network and the One World Alliance)
  • bmi to London Heathrow (connections to bmi's international network and the Star Alliance)
  • Manx 2 to Blackpool and the Isle of Man.
  • Euromanx to the Isle of Man.
  • flybe to Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield, Edinburgh, Exeter, Galway, Glasgow, Guernsey, Inverness, Jersey, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool John Lennon, London Gatwick, Newcastle, Southampton Manchester and Rennes.

The terminal is served every twenty to thirty minutes from 06.00 - 22.00 by the 600 Airport bus (£1.30 single, £2.20 return). Depending on traffic, the journey to Belfast's Laganside and Europa Buscentres should take no more than fifteen minutes. Ask at the airport information desk for a free shuttle ride to the near-by Sydenham railway station for trains towards Bangor, Belfast and Portadown. Considering the airport's proximity to the city, taxis cost less than £10 to most parts of the city and are an economical choice for small groups.

• Belfast International Airport (airport code BFS) is further away from Belfast than City Airport, but offers significantly more international destinations. Contintal Airlines has connections available to destinations throughout the Americas and beyond.

• • bmibaby to Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Nottingham East Midlands.
  • Continental Airlines to New York Newark (connections to Continental's international network and the Skyteam Alliance)
  • Easyjet to Alicante, Amsterdam, Berlin Schoenefeld, Bristol, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Glasgow, Ibiza, Krakow, Liverpool John Lennon, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted, Malaga, Newcastle, Nice, Palma, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Rome Ciampino.
  • Globespan to Glasgow, Orlando Sanford and Toronto Hamilton.
  • Jet2 to Alicante, Barcelona, Blackpool, Leeds Bradford, Prague, Malaga, Murcia, Milan, Palma, Pisa Tenerife South and Toulouse.
  • Manx2 to the Isle of Man.
  • Zoom to Toronto and Vancouver.
  • Wizz Air to Warsaw and Katowice.

The terminal is served up to thirty minutes from 05.35 - 23.20 by the 300 Airport bus (£6 single, £9 return). Depending on traffic, the journey to Belfast's Laganside and Europa Buscentres takes about forty-five minutes. Taxis should cost no more than £25-£30 to Belfast City Centre.

It is also possible to get to Belfast from Dublin Airport 100 miles to the south. Ryanair, Aer Arann and Aer Lingus (the national airline of the Republic of Ireland) serve many international destinations in Europe and North America (including Boston, Los Angeles and New York). Hourly buses link Dublin Airport and the Belfast Europa Buscentre