New Barcelona route launched from Belfast City Airport
Pictured at Belfast City Airport are Regional Development Minister, Danny Kennedy (left) and Brian Ambrose, chief executive of Belfast City Airport.
European airline, Vueling, is to begin a twice weekly service from George Best Belfast City Airport to Barcelona in May next year.
The low cost, full service airline, which is part of Willie Walsh’s International Airlines Group (IAG), has ambitious plans for growth and the new Belfast route is one of a number from its Barcelona El Prat base that were announced recently.
Brian Ambrose, chief executive of the airport, says he is very happy to welcome the new arrival at the hub:
“The hugely popular European airline, which carries a high percentage of business travellers, has an extensive network with over 100 destinations across Europe including Paris, Brussels, Rome, Madrid and has a growing presence in Russia, North Africa and Scandinavia,” he adds. “This is a very exciting opportunity to work with Vueling whose strategy is to partner with airports that have high levels of customer service and are aimed at business travellers.”
The announcement was also welcomed by Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, who said:
“We look forward to co-operating with Vueling to maximise the promotion of this new service from Barcelona. As an island, the importance of convenient, direct, non-stop flights cannot be overstated – they are absolutely critical to achieving growth in inbound tourism,” he added.
In August 2013, IAG announced its plans to deploy an additional 120 A320s to Vueling between 2015 and 2020, with the airline expected to be one of Europe’s largest low-cost carriers by the end of 2014.
