Passenger numbers at Belfast City Airport are set to exceed pre-pandemic levels next year, as its post-Covid recovery continues to outstrip many competitors, a senior executive has said.
Commercial director Katy Best outlined the scale of the airport’s bounce-back as it celebrated the launch of a new easyJet route to Glasgow.
The winter service, which started operating on Monday, is the fourth route introduced by easyJet at Belfast City within the past year.
“We’ve had a super recovery from the pandemic period and going into 2023 we’ll have more traffic than we did in 2019,” Ms Best told the PA news agency.
“It’s right across the board. We will hope to see in 2023 more passengers than we did in 2019, but we also have a much broader portfolio of airlines and we will have 24 destinations.
“We’ve never served as many destinations and, on a number of those routes, there’s really strong frequency as well, so it’s a really positive picture across the board.
“Certainly, our recovery has been one of the strongest in the UK, but I think the real positive is the industry itself has experienced quite a significant rebound, particularly short-haul travel, particularly domestic travel.
“Yes, we’re seeing different patterns of travel and, in some cases, differing levels of propensity, but the appetite to travel again is certainly back.”
Ms Best said air connectivity was crucial to the region's economy.
“The growth we have seen and what easyJet are doing with us today is testament to that,” she added.
EasyJet, which has a long-established base at Belfast International Airport, started flying services from Belfast City again last year.
Ali Gayward from easyJet was in Belfast on Monday to mark the start of the new Glasgow service.
“We are delighted to be celebrating the launch of our new service from Belfast City to Glasgow and, following our continued growth at the airport in the last year, this new service will further strengthen our Belfast network by providing even more choice and convenient connectivity from Belfast City to one of Scotland’s major cities, which is already proving popular with leisure and business travellers alike,” she said.
“We are proud to be the largest airline in Northern Ireland and are committed to providing our customers flying with easyJet from Belfast with more choice, great-value fares and a fantastic service.”
