Ryanair to resume flights from Belfast International Airport with four new routes

Fiachra Gallagher

Ryanair will operate four new routes from Belfast International Airport from next summer.

The airline will fly to a total of 16 destinations from Belfast, including the newly added cities of Budapest, Cardiff, Mallorca and Valencia.

Ryanair will run 140 weekly flights to and from Belfast from the beginning of the summer season.

Managing Director at Belfast International Airport Graham Keddie said: "The addition of a further four new routes by Ryanair is a fantastic way to end 2022.

"These exciting new destinations, particularly Budapest and Cardiff, which are both previously unserved, are most welcome and will provide further connectivity from Northern Ireland.

"From March 2023 Ryanair will now operate 16 new routes and base two aircraft providing a real boost to the local tourism and business economy.”

In addition to the new routes, Ryanair will invest $200 million in its Belfast operation, supporting 800 jobs and two aircraft based in the city.

Ryanair's Director of Marketing Dara Bradley called on the UK government to scrap aviation tax on all flight, "which currently put the UK at risk of losing air traffic to competing European countries", he said.