Belfast International Airport

Belfast International Airport (IATA: BFS, ICAO: EGAA) is an airport located 21 kilometres (13 miles) northwest of Belfast in Northern Ireland. It is also known as Aldergrove, after the village of that name lying immediately to the west of the airport. Belfast International shares its runways with the Royal Air Force base RAF Aldergrove, which otherwise has its own facilities. Nearly 5.3 million passengers (2.2% of passengers at all UK airports) travelled through the airport in 2007, a 1.7 million (47.4%) increase since 2002. Belfast International is the 2nd busiest airport in Ireland in terms of passenger numbers, after Dublin Airport and it is the busiest airport in the province of Ulster. It is the larger of two airports in Belfast (the other being George Best Belfast City Airport). There are 48 scheduled destinations served from the airport, with 16 domestic services and 32 European and transatlantic services. Transatlantic flights include Newark, Orlando, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. There are chartered flights to Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, the USA and many European destinations.

The airport is a major base for easyJet and Jet2.com, with other airlines including bmibaby, First Choice Airways and Thomas Cook Airlines also having a large presence. In December 2007, Aer Lingus opened a base at the airport, operating to four destinations as of January 2008, and by March 2008 the airline will have a total of ten destinations with three aircraft based at the airport.

The airport is owned by TBI plc, the same company which owns London Luton Airport, Cardiff International Airport and Orlando Sanford International Airport.

Belfast International has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P798) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.