Belfast
Airport City
George
Best Belfast City Airport (IATA: BHD, ICAO: EGAC) is
an airport in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The airport
has a single runway operation. Situated adjacent to
the Port of Belfastit is 3.2 km (2.0 mi) from Belfast
City Centre. It shares the site with the Short Brothers/Bombardier
aircraft manufacturing facility. The airport began commercial
operations in 1983.
The
airport was formerly known as Belfast City Airport until
it was renamed in 2006 in memory of George Best, the
famous footballer associated with east Belfast.
The
airport handled nearly 2.2 million passengers in 2007,
a 3.9% increase since 2006 and a 15.1% increase over
the five years since 2002.
The
airport is a major base for Flybe, which began operations
at the airport in 1993 and is now the largest operator
at Belfast City.
Belfast
City has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number
P862) that allows flights for the public transport of
passengers or for flying instruction.
An
airfield was established by Shorts beside their Belfast
factory in 1937 as Sydenham Airport (Sydenham, Belfast).
This was Belfast's main civilian airport from 1938 to
1939. The airfield was requisitioned by the Royal Navy
during the Second World War. Nutts Corner, a former
Royal Air Force (RAF) base, then became Belfast's main
airport (while Aldergrove would later become the primary
airport in Northern Ireland). The Sydenham airfield
continued to be used for military purposes until the
1970s, after which it was used by Shorts. In 1983, following
interest from airlines and customers, the airfield was
opened for commercial flights as Belfast Harbour Airport
(subsequently Belfast City Airport and now in its current
guise).
The
airport is located on the A2, Sydenham by-pass road
between Belfast and Holywood.
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