Belfast City Airport
| Continent: Europe | Country: United Kingdom | Region: Northern Ireland |
| Belfast City Airport | |
| Location | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| IATA code | BHD |
| ICAO code | EGAC |
| Airport type | Commercial |
| Website | [www.belfastcityairport.com www.belfastcityairport.com] |
| Overview map | [www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=54.6208&lon=-5.8727&scale=50000&icon=x Mulitmap] |
| Communications | |
| Tower | 130.75 |
| Ground | |
| Clearance | |
| Approach | 130.85 |
| ATIS | 136.625 |
Located 3 miles from Belfast city centre providing essential business links to Northern Ireland's capital, Belfast City airport offers a wide range of regional airliners. The peak times of operation are between 0700 and 0830, and between 1600 and 1800.
Official Spotting Locations
Terminal Cafe
The cafe on the first floor of the terminal building overlooks the main apron, and photography is possible from here. The cafe is officially designated a Viewing Area on signage in the terminal, however it is always best to purchase something from the cafe if you are using the tables.
Other Spotting Locations
B&Q Car Park
Walk or drive away from the terminal, North East towards Holywood. Follow the signs to the Holywood exchange, and you will pass a Sainsbury's before coming to a B&Q store. There are grass areas in front of the B&Q and alongside the road where viewing and photography is possible of aircraft approaching runway 22.
Old Terminal Car Park and Railway Bridge
The old Terminal carpark is no longer used, however still has a manned security hut overlooking the area. It is possible to photograph any aircraft using the old Terminal for General Aviation purposes, however an extended stay to photograph the movements will result in you being moved to the footbridge linking the airport with the nearby railway station. The footbrdige enables good views and photography of aircraft departing runway 22, and arriving and departing runway 04. Parking in the old Terminal car park is not permitted for any length of time, however parking is available off the main dual carriageway under the footbridge.
Regular Traffic
FlyBe is by far the main airline at Belfast City, with a large number of Dash 8 Q400s, and two BAe 146s based at the airport. bmi and British Airways offer regular services to Heathrow and Manchester with A321s and Dash 8 Q300s respectively, Aer Arann operates an ATR service to Cork, Euromanx a Dornier 328 service to the Isle of Man, and British Northwest serves Blackpool with a PA 31. There is also a twice daily air mail operation to Prestwick with an Air Charter Scotland Cessna 310 or similar. General Aviation movements usually total 4 or 5 a week, however there is a based Pilatus PC12 which rarely leaves the airport.
Facilities and Transportation
The cafe mentioned above has airport priced food and drink, and there is a newsagents on the ground floor of the terminal building. There is a regular bus service from outside the terminal to the Europe Bus Station in the centre of the city which costs just a few pounds.