RYANAIR has laid the blame squarely at the UK Government and Stormont over its decision to pull its remaining services in Northern Ireland over the winter.
The Irish carrier had already pulled all flights to Britain back in January as part of a long-running fall-out with the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority.
But it has now moved to pull its remaining services from Belfast International Airport after October 31, while eight summer routes from Belfast City Airport will end in mid-September rather than the end of October.
In a statement, Ryanair cited its long-running issue over air passenger duty (APD) for pulling its winter operation.
But the airline also blamed “the lack of Covid recovery incentives from both Belfast airports”.
Stormont has provided significant financial support directly to the north’s three main airports, but the support for airlines has been largely limited to a smaller domestic incentive, the Northern Ireland Domestic Aviation Kickstart Scheme (NIDAKS).
However, Ryanair’s statement does not rule out a return to Northern Ireland in the spring.
“These aircraft will be re-allocated to lower cost airports elsewhere in the UK and Europe for the Winter schedule which starts in November,” it said.
A spokesperson for Belfast City Airport said Ryanair’s operation there had always been for the summer season only.
Belfast International Airport described the move as “disappointing”, but said talks are already under way to replace some of the flights.
“It has been a difficult period for aviation and a time when consumers need some stability and faith in the Northern Ireland air transport network,” said the airport in a statement.
“As we have been anticipating such a move, we have been engaging with our existing and other new airlines to provide continuity on the routes to be vacated by Ryanair, and to help sustain employment in the aviation industry at a local level in Northern Ireland.
“To this end we hope to be able to make announcements regarding fresh route development in the near future.”
Earlier this year Scottish airline Loganair announced it would step in to operate flights between Derry and Liverpool following Ryanair’s exit from City of Derry at the start of 2021.
Ryanair’s decision to pull its winter flights from Aldergrove currently means there are no direct flights from Northern Ireland to Poland.
EasyJet is among the airlines who could alter its schedule in response to Ryanair’s announcement.
The budget carrier does operate flights between Belfast International and Krakow, but that service had been put on ice until spring 2022.
The SDLP’s economy spokesperson, Sinéad McLaughlin said the announcement was extremely disappointing for passengers and came as another blow for the two main Belfast airports.
“I have regularly pleaded with the executive to provide adequate support to the aviation and travel industries and their staff, but this has fallen on deaf ears,” she said.
“Our airports were struggling before the onset of the pandemic and we need to see a proper long-term executive plan to address these issues to ensure our airports remain viable and offer people the best possible choice and experience.”
