Belfast International Airport is Northern Ireland's principal air hub, serviced with regular scheduled flights to European and UK destinations.

Travelex operates two bureaux de change and is open daily except Christmas Day (tel: 028 94 447500). ATMs are found in both the departures and arrivals areas.

The international food court is open from first check-in to last flight, while the International Bar is open from 11:30 - 23:00. A newsagent and a range of shops, most open 06:00 - 22:00, are located in departures. Travel Value offers a wide range of duty-free products.

The airport information desk is open 24 hours and is located in the arrivals hall (tel: + 44 289 448 4848).

The Fitzwilliam Business Lounge is located in departures and offers Internet, fax and photocopy facilities, widescreen TV, refreshments and newspapers and magazines (£12.00 per visit).

Facilities for disabled passengers include dedicated parking, low-level phones, specially designed toilets, and a minicom system at the information desk, whose staff are trained in basic sign language.

Antrim is the closest train station to the airport (six miles) and offers regular services to/from Belfast, Lisburn and Londonderry (Translink: 028 90 66663). The Airbus connects the airport with Belfast city centre every half-hour Monday - Saturday and less frequently on Sundays (05:45 - 23:20).

Drivers can reach the airport from Belfast (18 miles) north along the M2 until turning off at Junction 5 onto the A57. Short-, medium-, and long-stay car parks are available (pre-booking: 0870 0134747).

Key Facts:

• Serving over 4 million passengers a year, Belfast International Airport is the principal gateway to north of Ireland.
• It is the closest all-weather airport in Europe to the USA, and is ideally located for the rapid turnaround and repositioning of the transatlantic flights.
• The airport operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is not subject to noise abatment procedures, significant environmental constraints or airspace limitations.
• Situated 543927 North / 0061256 West
• Most techically advanced airport in Ireland - Two long runways with ILS Cat 111b equipment, offer wide-body capacity.
• Fifth largest regional air cargo centre in the UK.
• Full range of wharehouse and distribution centre.
• Excellent ground handling services.
• Competitively priced aviation fuel on-site.
• Extensive ancillary services on site including executive air charter, air taxi, air ambulance, helicopter training and hire.

Airport History

November 1917: Aldergrove selected to be the Royal Flying Corps training establishment during the First World War. With the end of the war, Aldergrove remained open for Royal Air Force aircraft and for the fledgling civil traffic to and from Northern Ireland.

31 May 1933: Northern Ireland's first ever regular, sustained civil air service started. The route was Glasgow to Aldergrove and the flight was operated by Midland and Scottish Air Ferries.

1939-45: During the second World War, Aldergrove remained an RAF base, particularly for the Coastal Command.

1946-63: The decision was taken to move civil flights back to Aldergrove because of less variable weather conditions than those at Nutts Corner. In recent years aircraft had been diverted from Nutts Corner to Aldergrove because of adverse weather conditions

26 Sept 1963: Operations were transferred from Nutts Corner to Aldergrove. The first passenger flight to land that day was a BEA Viscount from Manchester.

4 January 1966: The start of the first regular jet service, by a British United BAC 1-11 to Gatwick

1969: Annual passenger numbers hit the 1 million mark

Runway 07/25

9121 x 148 feet
2780 x 45 meters

Runway 17/35

6401 x 148 feet
1951 x 45 meters

Navaids

Navaids

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2005.
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