George Best Belfast City airport has been confirmed as the second base for the soon-to-relaunch regional carrier Flybe.
Flybe entered administration in March 2020, several months after it was announced that it would be rebranded as Virgin Connect.
Plans were subsequently unveiled to resurrect the brand, and in November 2021 it was announced that Birmingham Airport would act as Flybe’s new company headquarters and crew base.
Belfast City airport also confirmed via Twitter that Flybe’s routes and fares would be announced on March 22.
More good news as @flybe has selected Belfast City Airport as its second base ✈️
Routes, destinations, and low fares to be announced 22nd March…watch this space! 👀
More info: https://t.co/umdY9CkMGI#travel #aviationnews pic.twitter.com/uF58IMWOGg
— Belfast City Airport (@BELFASTCITY_AIR) March 16, 2022
“Next week is going to be an exciting time for customers and communities that have been waiting to hear from us about low fares, new routes, and new destinations – all of which are being timed to coincide with the restart of the economy and a return to normality after two difficult years for all,” said Flybe CEO, Dave Pflieger.
“As you’ve heard, our team has been working hard for over a year and a half to bring customers a new airline that people will love, and we are particularly excited to be flying to Belfast City Airport and serving Northern Ireland.
“Once we start flying from Birmingham, Belfast, and many other cities in the UK and EU, we are confident that a new and improved Flybe will provide customers with great value, more choices, and the opportunity to quickly and more conveniently visit loved ones, go on holiday, and more easily visit customers or attend important meetings.
“Given that goal, Flybe hopes to do its part to help communities across the country bounce back from the dramatic impact of the global pandemic.”
It will be interesting to see what destinations the “new” Flybe chooses to launch with – since its collapse in early 2020, many of its former routes have been taken over by other regional carriers including Loganair and Eastern Airways.
Indeed when Loganair announced the launch of flights between Edinburgh and Cardiff last year, the carrier said that the service represented “the last major route to be restored by Loganair and other carriers, thereby bringing back the domestic connectivity lost when Flybe collapsed in March 2020”.
