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57-472: Belfast International Airport ( IATA : BFS , ICAO : EGAA ) is an international airport 11.5  NM (21.3 km; 13.2 mi) northwest of Belfast in Northern Ireland , and is the main airport for the city of Belfast. Until 1983, it was known as Aldergrove Airport , after the nearby village of Aldergrove, County Antrim . In 2023, over 5.9 million passengers travelled through the airport,

114-425: A 23.6% increase compared with 2022. The majority of flights from Belfast International are operated by easyJet , Northern Ireland's biggest airline. It features flights to some European metropolitan and several leisure destinations. Belfast International has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. The airfield was previously shared with

171-405: A base. In summer 2023, work began on a significant terminal expansion, to accommodate new security scanning equipment. This is to be operational by summer 2024. The following airlines operate regular scheduled flights to and from Belfast–International: Woodgate Aviation has a base at the airport, featuring a private jet terminal, with facilities to accommodate small aircraft. Woodgate Aviation

228-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

285-544: Is Antrim railway station , 10 km (6.2 mi) from the airport in Antrim, and serviced by a bus (the 109A Ulsterbus service) to and from Antrim bus/railway station from there connections to Derry and Belfast by train can be made. There are connections to Belfast, Lisburn and Derry. Antrim station is on the Belfast–Derry railway line . Trains to and from Dublin are via Belfast Grand Central station . A new station serving

342-497: Is Belfast International Airport's only FBO to provide hangarage. Their 33,000 sq ft hangar was constructed in 2015, and at the time of completion, access to hangar floor was through Europe's largest hydraulic door. Belfast International Airport welcomed Global Trek Aviation, as the third FBO on the airfield, during 2015. This was part of the Airports commercial drive to develop the non-scheduled , Military and GA development at

399-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

456-640: Is accomplished with light aircraft . The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines civil aviation aircraft operations in three categories: General Aviation (GA), Aerial Work (AW) and Commercial Air Transport (CAT). Aerial work operations are separated from general aviation by ICAO by this definition. Aerial work is when an aircraft is used for specialized services such as agriculture, construction, photography, surveying, observation and patrol, search and rescue, and aerial advertisement. However, for statistical purposes ICAO includes aerial work within general aviation, and has proposed officially extending

513-617: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

570-560: Is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other purposes. However, for statistical purposes, ICAO uses a definition of general aviation which includes aerial work. General aviation thus represents the " private transport " and recreational components of aviation, most of which

627-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

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684-671: Is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

741-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

798-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

855-493: Is not limited to: Commercial air transport includes: However, in some countries, air taxi is regarded as being part of GA/AW. Private flights are made in a wide variety of aircraft: light and ultra-light aircraft, sport aircraft , homebuilt aircraft , business aircraft (like private jets ), gliders and helicopters . Flights can be carried out under both visual flight and instrument flight rules, and can use controlled airspace with permission. The majority of

912-655: Is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority . The main focus is on standards of airworthiness and pilot licensing , and the objective is to promote high standards of safety. General aviation is particularly popular in North America, with over 6,300 airports available for public use by pilots of general aviation aircraft (around 5,200 airports in the U.S. and over 1,000 in Canada ). In comparison, scheduled flights operate from around 560 airports in

969-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

1026-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

1083-535: The London–Heathrow service. Further developments to the terminal occurred throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, extending the terminal's landside and airside area. A new Executive Aviation Terminal was also opened in 1987 and the new cargo centre opened in 1991. The airport was privatised in 1994. TBI became the new owner of the airport on 13 August 1996, by which time annual passenger numbers had reached 2.5 million. In 1998, easyJet started operations from

1140-476: The Royal Air Force base RAF Aldergrove , which closed in 2008. The base is now known as Joint Helicopter Command Flying Station, Aldergrove, and both runways are now owned by the airport. The airport is owned and operated by Vinci Airports which was previously owned by ADC & HAS. The airport lies within the parish of Killead, between the small villages of Killead (to the east) and Aldergrove (to

1197-584: The United Airlines brand until the route's termination in January 2017. In July 2013, it was confirmed that abertis would sell Belfast International Airport, Stockholm Skavsta Airport & Orlando Sanford International Airport to ADC & HAS based in the United States . In February 2015 the airport re-opened the viewing gallery that had been closed for 10 years which provides a view of

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1254-635: The apron and the runways that serve the airport. It also includes live ATC, arrival and departure boards, and a live flight radar screen. However, this was later closed again in October 2019. In 2014, news emerged of talks between the airport and Turkish Airlines . This could have led to a service linking Belfast into the worldwide Turkish route network, but did not materialise. From 2015, Virgin Atlantic offered weekly services to Orlando using Boeing 747-400 aircraft with occasional services provided by

1311-406: The 1950s civil air traffic had outstripped the facilities at Nutts Corner and aircraft were being regularly diverted to Aldergrove because of adverse weather conditions. In July 1959 the decision was made to move civil flights to Aldergrove to take advantage of the large airfield and this took place in October 1963. A new terminal and apron were built, with the necessary passenger facilities, and

1368-620: The 21,000 civil aircraft registered in the United Kingdom, 96 percent are engaged in GA operations, and annually the GA fleet accounts for between 1.25 and 1.35 million hours flown. There are 28,000 private pilot licence holders, and 10,000 certified glider pilots . Some of the 19,000 pilots who hold professional licences are also engaged in GA activities. GA operates from more than 1,800 airports and landing sites or aerodromes , ranging in size from large regional airports to farm strips. GA

1425-518: The U.S. According to the U.S. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association , general aviation provides more than one percent of the United States' GDP , accounting for 1.3 million jobs in professional services and manufacturing . Most countries have a civil aviation authority that oversees all civil aviation , including general aviation, adhering to the standardized codes of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Aviation accident rate statistics are necessarily estimates. According to

1482-454: The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board , general aviation in the United States (excluding charter) suffered 1.31 fatal accidents for every 100,000 hours of flying in 2005, compared to 0.016 for scheduled airline flights. In Canada, recreational flying accounted for 0.7 fatal accidents for every 1000 aircraft, while air taxi accounted for 1.1 fatal accidents for every 100,000 hours. More experienced GA pilots appear generally safer, although

1539-458: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . General aviation General aviation ( GA )

1596-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

1653-690: The airline's Airbus A330 fleet. These flights served tourist traffic during the summer months (typically June - August). The service was suspended with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to date has not returned. Ryanair opened a base at the airport in 2016, initially operating flights to nine destinations. The airline said it would carry 1.1 million passengers a year out of the airport. In 2017 and 2018, Norwegian Air Shuttle operated long-haul services to Newburgh and Providence . In April 2018, Vinci Airports acquired an airport portfolio held by Airports Worldwide (previously named ADC & HAS), with

1710-441: The airport could be constructed on the mothballed Lisburn-Antrim railway line , as set out in the airport master plan. This line remains in serviceable condition and passes close to the airport terminal. It has also been listed in a public review of the future of Northern Ireland railways. [REDACTED] Media related to Belfast International Airport at Wikimedia Commons IATA airport code The assignment of these codes

1767-466: The airport from Belfast via the M2 motorway . The airport operates four car parks, three on-site car parks and one off-site car park. The on-site short-stay and main car parks are situated within easy walking distance of the terminal building, and an on-demand courtesy bus operates to and from the on-site long-stay car park. The off-site short- or long-stay car park, called 'Park and Fly', is located just before

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1824-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

1881-518: The airport on a charter service to Toronto via Shannon. The first scheduled service to a European city was started by NLM Cityhopper (now KLM Cityhopper ) flying to Amsterdam . In 1983 the airport, renamed Belfast International, was regularly accommodating the largest civil aircraft in service and with the installation of new technology was capable of all-weather operations. In 1985 passenger numbers reached 1.5 million and British Midland International (BMI) went into competition with British Airways on

1938-422: The airport with flights to London–Luton . Since then the airline has established a large base at Belfast International and a further twelve domestic routes and twenty-three direct European scheduled routes have been added to the network, making the airline the largest user of the airport. In 2005, Continental Airlines launched the first ever nonstop scheduled service to Newark ; this continued to operate under

1995-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

2052-560: The airport. This had notable success with an increase in growth across these movement types at Belfast International Airport. Belfast International handled over 5.9 million passengers in 2023. The airport's busiest year over operation was in 2019 when it handled over 6.27 million passengers. The airport is the busiest in Northern Ireland and the 10th-busiest airport in the UK by passenger traffic in 2023. Travellers by car can reach

2109-486: The basis of the layout that still exists at the airport today. One of the outcomes of the wartime airfield construction programme was the building of Nutts Corner Airport , just 3 mi (4.8 km) from Aldergrove. On 1 December 1946, the new site replaced Belfast Harbour Airport (now George Best Belfast City Airport ) as Northern Ireland's civil airport, as the Harbour Airport was considered unsuitable. By

2166-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

2223-424: The complex was opened by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 28 October 1963. The first regular jet service to London–Gatwick started in 1966, and in 1968 Aer Lingus and BOAC introduced scheduled services to New York City via Shannon and Prestwick respectively. In 1971, Northern Ireland Airports Limited was formed to operate and develop the airport and its facilities. A major programme of airfield upgrades

2280-539: The definition of general aviation to include aerial work, to reflect common usage. The proposed ICAO classification includes instructional flying as part of general aviation (non-aerial-work). The International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations (IAOPA) refers to the category as general aviation/aerial work (GA/AW) to avoid ambiguity. Their definition of general aviation includes: General aviation thus includes both commercial and non-commercial activities. IAOPA's definition of aerial work includes, but

2337-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

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2394-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

2451-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

2508-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

2565-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

2622-856: The main entrance to the airport, and is also serviced by a courtesy bus. Translink operates an express bus service 300 to the airport from its Belfast Grand Central .This runs 24 hours a day, every 15 minutes at peak times. Translink also offers bus connections to Antrim railway station. The airport can be reached from Derry and the northwest by the Airporter . The 109A bus service operates between 6am and 6pm from Lisburn bus centre in Lisburn City Centre, calling at Lisburn railway station , Ballinderry , Glenavy , Crumlin , Belfast International Airport, and Antrim Train and Bus Centre Providing connections with Northern Ireland railways to Derry/Londonderry station. The nearest railway station

2679-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

2736-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

2793-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

2850-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

2907-920: The transaction expected to close later that year, Vinci Airports became the new owner of Belfast International Airport. 2018 also saw further suggestions of an international carrier providing access to a global network. This time Qatar Airways was mooted, but again, any such proposal did not come to fruition. Thomas Cook Airlines had a seasonal base at the airport, until their collapse in September 2019. They operated routes to Europe and some other destinations, operated by an Airbus A321 aircraft. Every July, they operated long-haul flights from Belfast to Cancún and Orlando , operated by their Airbus A330 aircraft. In August 2021, Ryanair announced they would be ending its operations at both of Belfast's airports. In July 2022, Ryanair announced that they will be returning to Belfast International Airport, in addition to opening

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2964-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

3021-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

3078-679: The west). The site for the airport was established in 1917, when it was selected to be a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) training establishment during the First World War . The airport remained open at the end of the war for RAF activity. Civil traffic began in 1922, when flights were conducted to fly newspapers from Chester . The first scheduled passenger service was started in 1933 by the Scottish airline Midland & Scottish Air Ferries . This service consisted of two daily flights each way between Aldergrove and Renfrew Airport , Glasgow . This

3135-485: The world's air traffic falls into the category of general aviation, and most of the world's airports serve GA exclusively. Flying clubs are considered a part of general aviation. In 2003, the European Aviation Safety Agency was established as the central EU regulator, taking over responsibility for legislating airworthiness and environmental regulation from the national authorities. Of

3192-647: Was subsequently augmented by a twice-daily, return service to Croydon , at that time London's airport, with stops at the Isle of Man , Liverpool and Birmingham . During the Second World War , Aldergrove remained an RAF station particularly for the Coastal Command . So that the airport could accommodate larger, long-range aircraft, a major works programme was undertaken to replace the four existing runways with two new long paved runways, thereby forming

3249-432: Was undertaken, resulting in improvements to runways, taxiways and the parking apron. A new International Pier was built together with lounge facilities and car parks, while an additional apron was provided to separate the smaller general aviation aircraft from large commercial jets . In the meantime, British Airways launched the first Belfast to London–Heathrow shuttle service and the first Boeing 747 operated from

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