Dutch airline KLM to relaunch Belfast service

The Dutch airline KLM will relaunch services from Belfast City Airport today for the first time since 1999 as a major public inquiry begins in the North to examine an application by the airport to remove the limit on the total number of seats it can sell.

The public inquiry will examine proposed modifications to the planning agreement between George Best Belfast City Airport and the Department of the Environment.

Brian Ambrose, the airport's chief executive, says the airport is seeking the removal of the seat cap to allow it to "compete and actively pursue additional airlines and more direct European routes".

“We want to continue to play our part in re-energising the city and the region. The removal of the seats for sale cap will enable the airport to attract more visitors to Belfast, creating jobs and boosting the local economy.

“The removal will not mean more flights as this is capped at 48,000 per annum,” Mr Ambrose added.

Cap exceeded

The seats for sale cap currently stands at two million per year. Last year the airport carried 2.5 million passengers – exceeding the cap – on 37,226 flights.

Mr Ambrose said any removal of the current seat cap would not result in larger planes using the runway and that people living nearby would continue to be protected from noise as there would be no night-time flights or cargo planes.

But local campaign group Belfast City Airport Watch claims if the airport's proposals are implemented residents could suffer "twice as many jet flights and double the noise annoyance".

Noise threshold

“Under the airport’s proposals, the overall annual flights limit remains, but flights by jets, which tend to be noisier than turbo-prop aircraft, could more than double,” it said. “The new noise threshold sought by the airport would permit levels and frequency of noise which could well feel twice as annoying – in effect, potentially doubling the perceived noise nuisance although not the actual noise level.”

The public inquiry gets under way in Belfast as latest figures show a record number of people from Northern Ireland chose to travel through Dublin Airport last year. According to the statistics, passenger numbers from the North soared to a high of 864,000.