George Best Belfast City Airport

George Best Belfast City Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner3i
OperatorBelfast City Airport Ltd.
ServesBelfast
LocationCounty Down
Opened16 March 1938 (86 years ago) (1938-03-16)
Hub for
Elevation AMSL15 ft / 5 m
Coordinates54°37′05″N 05°52′21″W / 54.61806°N 5.87250°W / 54.61806; -5.87250
Websitewww.belfastcityairport.com
Map
EGAC is located in Greater Belfast
EGAC
EGAC
Location in Greater Belfast
EGAC is located in Northern Ireland
EGAC
EGAC
Location in Northern Ireland
EGAC is located in island of Ireland
EGAC
EGAC
Location on the island of Ireland
EGAC is located in the United Kingdom
EGAC
EGAC
Location in the United Kingdom
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04/22 1,829 6,001 Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Passengers2,115,153
Passenger change 22-23Increase27.8%
Aircraft movements29,282
Movements change 22-23Increase15.7%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1]
Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

Belfast City Airport, officially George Best Belfast City Airport (IATA: BHD, ICAO: EGAC) is a single-runway airport in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Situated in County Down, it is adjacent to the Belfast Harbour[1] and is 3 miles (4.8 km) from Belfast City Centre. It shares the site with the Spirit AeroSystems (formerly Short Brothers/Bombardier) aircraft manufacturing facility. The airport began commercial operations in 1983, and was known as "Belfast City Airport" until it was renamed in 2006 in memory of George Best, the professional footballer from Belfast.[3] The airport has a CAA public use aerodrome licence (number P862) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

As of February 2024, 6 airlines operate 30 routes across the UK and Europe from Belfast City Airport.[4] In 2023, the airport handled over 2.1 million passengers, having peaked at 2.7 million in 2010.[2] The airport serves as a regional base for Aer Lingus and British Airways who are the largest operators there. Ground handling is provided by Swissport[5] and Menzies Aviation,[6] the latter also offering cargo handling services.

  1. ^ a b Belfast/City – EGAC [dead link]. Nats-uk.ead-it.com.
  2. ^ a b "Aircraft and passenger traffic data from UK airports". UK Civil Aviation Authority. 16 March 2018. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference best was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Airlines and Routes". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Swissport International Ltd. - Network". Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Menzies Aviation - Network". Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.