Belfast International Airport

About Belfast International Airport

Belfast International Airport is the largest airport in Northern Ireland by passenger numbers. It is at Aldergrove in County Antrim, near the village of Crumlin and the eastern shore of Lough Neagh, about 18 miles north-west of Belfast city centre. The IATA code is BFS and the ICAO code is EGAA. It should not be confused with Belfast City Airport, a smaller airport close to the city centre.

UK Civil Aviation Authority figures show 6,677,021 terminal passengers at the airport in 2025, a fall of about 1 per cent from the 6,750,440 recorded in 2024. That makes it roughly three times as busy as Belfast City Airport and many times busier than City of Derry Airport.

The airport is run by Belfast International Airport Ltd and has been wholly owned by VINCI Airports since 2018. There is one passenger terminal and two asphalt runways: the main runway, 07/25, is 2,780 metres long and the secondary runway, 17/35, is 1,891 metres.

How to get to Belfast International Airport

By bus and coach

There is no railway station at the airport, so public transport means a Translink bus. The Airport Express 300 links the airport with Belfast Grand Central Station, the city's main bus and rail hub, which has onward connections across Northern Ireland. Airport bus tickets are sold at ticket vending machines at Belfast Grand Central Station and at the airport bus stop.

For rail passengers from north of Antrim, Translink sells an Airlink ticket combining the train with Ulsterbus service 109A to the airport. It is available from stations including Ballymena, Coleraine, Portrush and Derry~Londonderry. Check the Translink website for current timetables and fares before you travel.

By road

The airport's address for sat nav is Airport Road, Crumlin, BT29 4AB. There are official on-site car parks, which can be booked in advance through the airport website, along with drop-off and pick-up facilities. Taxis and car hire are also available at the airport.

Terminal and facilities

Services in the terminal include:

• The Causeway Lounge, a pre-bookable departure lounge
• A paid Premium Security option for a quicker route through the security search
• Special assistance for passengers with reduced mobility or hidden disabilities, which should be requested in advance
• A lost property service for items left in the terminal
• A Swissport desk dealing with lost and delayed baggage

For the Belfast International Airport contact details, use the contact page on the official website. The airport does not publish a general phone number. Instead it lists email addresses for individual departments, including special assistance, lost property, car parking, the Causeway Lounge and media enquiries, and offers an online enquiry form.

Airlines and destinations

The airport names four airlines: easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair and TUI. easyJet and Ryanair run frequent services to cities in Great Britain, including London, as well as to European city break destinations. Jet2 and TUI concentrate on package holiday and leisure routes, many of them seasonal, to Mediterranean and other sun destinations. Tour operators also run holiday charters from the airport. Routes change from season to season, so check with the airline for the current timetable.

History

Aldergrove has been used as an airfield since the First World War, and for many years Belfast's civil flights used the nearby airfield at Nutts Corner instead. In October 1963 civil flights moved to Aldergrove, where a new terminal and apron had been built. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother opened the new terminal on 28 October 1963. The airport took the name Belfast International in 1983.

The airport was privatised in 1994, and TBI became its owner in 1996. It later passed with TBI to the Spanish group Abertis, and in 2013 to ADC & HAS, later renamed Airports Worldwide. In April 2018 VINCI Airports announced it was buying a 100 per cent stake in Belfast International Airport as part of the Airports Worldwide portfolio. At the time the airport handled 5.8 million passengers a year. VINCI Airports has owned it since.