Ryanair (NYSE: RYAN), Edinburgh’s No. 1 airline, today (6th July) celebrated the 15-year anniversary of its base and 33 millionth passenger at Edinburgh Airport. Ryanair first began operating to/from Edinburgh Airport in 2001 with its first flight from Dublin. The airline has since grown to become Edinburgh Airport’s biggest carrier operating a record schedule for Summer ’23, with over 590 flights per week across 69 routes, incl. 6 new routes – Belfast, Bournemouth, London, Newquay, Rhodes, and Venice – on its 11 based aircraft, which represent a $1.1 billion investment and support over 3,800 local jobs.
To celebrate the 15-year anniversary of Ryanair’s Edinburgh base, as well as 33 million passengers and its record-breaking Edinburgh schedule for Summer ‘23, the airline has launched a special seat sale with fares from £29.99 for travel between July and Sept available only at Ryanair.com.
British Airways is launching four new domestic routes from Belfast this summer, supporting important business and tourism links between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
Over the next few months, the airline will start to operate 18 flights a week between George Best Belfast City Airport and Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford and Newquay airports. The new routes will run alongside existing British Airways services between Belfast and London City and London Heathrow airports.
Customers can book via ba.com from today, with return fares from Belfast to these new destinations starting from £48 each way.
Customers booking with British Airways can do so with absolute confidence, thanks to the airline’s flexible booking policy. Customers are able to exchange their booking for a voucher or move their dates without incurring a change fee if their plans change. British Airways Holidays’ customers also have access to a range of additional flexible booking options, as part of the company’s Customer Promise.
Full schedule:
Route
Flight number
Schedule/departure time
Belfast City (BHD)/ Exeter (EXT) From 16 June 2021
The additional services will be operated using BA CityFlyer’s existing fleet of Embraer 190 aircraft.
For more information about the NI Domestic Aviation Kickstart Scheme visit www.economy-ni.gov.uk
Aer Lingus is operating services between Belfast and Edinburgh, Manchester, and Birmingham. Please check www.aerlingus.com for the latest schedules.
British Airways has introduced a number of measures at the airport and on board to look after the safety and wellbeing of its customers and crew. These include social distancing measures, the wearing of face masks and hand sanitiser stations. Prior to travel customers will also receive details of how they can prepare for their next flight.
The airline is cleaning all key surfaces including seats, screens, seat buckles and tray tables after every flight and each aircraft is completely cleaned from nose to tail every day. The air on all British Airways flights is fully recycled once every two to three minutes through HEPA filters, which remove microscopic bacteria and virus clusters with over 99.9% efficiency, equivalent to hospital operating theatre standards.
Belfast, Northern Ireland – Ryanair (London: RYA.L), Europe’s no. 1 airline, today (04 March) announced it will return to Belfast City Airport after 11 years and is delighted to launch 8 new routes for summer ’21 connecting Belfast to a host of popular international summer destinations.
Northern Ireland consumers can now book a sunshine getaway to summer favourites, including Malaga (7 x weekly), Mallorca (7 x w), Faro (7 x w), Alicante (7 x w), Barcelona (5 x w), Ibiza (2 x w), Milan Bergamo (2 x w) and Valencia (2 x w), flying on the lowest fares and with the option to avail of Ryanair’s “zero change fee” offer should plans change.
The UK’s highly successful rollout of their vaccination program, which has seen almost 35% of the adult population of Northern Ireland already vaccinated, gives customers the confidence that Summer travel will be possible and with low fares now available from Belfast City Airport, there’s never been a better time to book a break to one of these 8 fantastic sun destinations for Summer 2021.
To celebrate the return to Belfast City Airport, Ryanair has launched a seat sale, with fares available from just £14.99 for travel from June to October 2021, which must be booked by midnight Saturday, 6th March only on Ryanair.com.
LONDON (Reuters) – Irish airline Aer Lingus said it was reviewing its social distancing procedures after a flight on Monday was packed with passengers.
European flights have all but come to a standstill during the coronavirus pandemic with only a few services operating for essential travel such as people going to work or being repatriated, or for cargo.
While there is no visibility on when travel restrictions will ease, airlines are considering how to safely restart services and give passengers confidence to fly.
Aer Lingus, owned by IAG <IAG.L>, said it would consider how it operates after its Belfast to London Heathrow flight on Monday had “unexpectedly high loads” and that due to the level of the demand for the route, it could need to make changes.
“Aer Lingus is reviewing its processes and procedures applicable to the operation of this service,” an Aer Lingus spokeswoman said, adding that safety was its top priority.
Some airlines have discussed leaving middle seats empty on flights to enable social distancing, while other airlines such as Germany’s Lufthansa <LHA.DE> and Hungary’s low cost airline Wizz Air <WIZZ.L> have made it compulsory for passengers to wear face masks on flights.
(Reporting by Sarah Young and Ian Graham; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
FILE PHOTO: The Aer Lingus EI-DER Airbus A320 makes its final approach for landing at Toulouse-Blagnac airport
PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus on Thursday declined to say whether it was interested in buying Bombardier’s Belfast plant after the Canadian firm put it up for sale, but described the Northern Ireland facility as a “key supplier”.
An Airbus spokesman noted the plant makes wings for the A220, formerly known as the CSeries, which Airbus bought from Bombardier last year, and some engine casings for the Airbus A320 family.
Industry sources say the plant uses new technology for carbon fibre wings that could interest Airbus for a future A320 replacement and other long-term projects.
Bombardier’s sale of its Belfast wing and structure-making operation, the largest high-tech manufacturer in Northern Ireland, has stunned workers. They have called on the British government to retain jobs, with the plant employing 3,600 people.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Matthias Blamont)
MONTREAL (Reuters) – Canada’s Bombardier Inc said on Thursday it would unite its corporate and regional jet-making units into a single aviation division, as it continues focusing on its strongest businesses while shedding aerostructure facilities in Belfast and Morocco.
The announcement comes ahead of an annual general meeting later in the day, where the plane and train maker is expected to face questions from investors on whether its turnaround plan is still on track as its transportation unit grapples with delayed rail contracts.
Investors were rattled last week when Bombardier cut its first-quarter and full-year revenue targets for the transportation division, its largest unit, raising concerns over whether it will still meet its 2020 targets of boosting margins and generating $20 billion (£15 billion) in revenue.
Bombardier on Thursday posted first-quarter revenue and profit, in line with revised expectations issued a week ago, when it sharply cut estimates for full-year profit and revenue.
It had slashed its full-year transportation revenue forecast by almost 8 percent to about $8.75 billion.
The company said in a statement it was making progress toward completing five long-term rail projects that have been marred in some cases by delivery delays and production problems, but these would take a few more quarters for completion.
Bombardier’s planned sale of its Belfast wing and structure-making operation, the largest high-tech manufacturer in Northern Ireland which employs 3,600, stunned workers who called on the British government to retain jobs.
A separate facility which produces aeronautical-equipment in Morocco will also be sold.
Under Chief Executive Alain Bellemare, Bombardier has been selling off businesses, including the money-losing Q400 turboprop program, to focus on more profitable units like rail and corporate jets.
The rail division, which is expected to generate $10 billion next year, is crucial to Bombardier’s five-year turnaround plan, after heavy investment in aircraft production drove it to the brink of bankruptcy in 2015.
Besides creating a single aviation division headed by business aircraft president, David Coleal, the company said it will consolidate its five aerostructures businesses to focus on facilities in Montreal, Mexico and its newly acquired Global 7500 business jet wing operations in Texas.
Bombardier’s commercial aircraft president Fred Cromer will continue to lead efforts as the company weighs the future of its money-losing regional jet program.
Some investors have questioned Bombardier’s credibility in revising its financial guidance after a recent debt raise.
“The concern, particularly after the March debt raise, is whether management remains committed to its longer term 2020 guidance,” said Toronto-based AltaCorp analyst Capital Chris Murray by email.
“We expect that during that process, the company had reiterated prior 2019 guidance, which it changed last week, adding to concern on the part of bondholders.”
A Bombardier spokesman declined to comment and said management would address questions at the meeting.
Bombardier said it continues to expect full-year free cash flow to be breakeven, plus or minus $250 million, as Global 7500 aircraft and key transportation project deliveries are expected to accelerate in the second half of the year.
Adjusted core earnings rose by $1 million to $266 million in the three months to March 31, while revenue fell 13 percent to $3.52 billion.
(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal. Additional reporting by Arathy Nair in Bengaluru and Fergal Smith in Toronto; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Bernadette Baum)
FILE PHOTO: Logo of Bombardier is seen at an office building in Zurich, Switzerland February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
