Belfast International Airport

Belfast International Airport is an airport 11.5 NM northwest of Belfast in Northern Ireland, is the main Airport for the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Until 1983, it was known as Aldergrove Airport, after the nearby village of Aldergrove.

Aldergrove selected to be the Royal Flying Corps training establishment during the First World War. With the end of the war, Aldergrove remained open for Royal Air Force aircraft and for the fledgling civil traffic to and from Northern Ireland. During the second World War, Aldergrove remained an RAF base, particularly for the Coastal Command. The decision was taken to move civil flights back to Aldergrove because of less variable weather conditions than those at Nutts Corner. In recent years aircraft had been diverted from Nutts Corner to Aldergrove because of adverse weather conditions.

In 1963, HRH Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother reopened Aldergrove as a civil airport and inaugurated the present terminal building.The start of the first regular jet service, by a British United BAC 1-11 to Gatwick. Aer Lingus and BOAC started scheduled services to New York via Shannon and Prestwick respectively.

In 1971, the newly formed Northern Ireland Airports Limited took over operation of the airport from the UK Department of Trade and Industry. British Airways launch the first Belfast Heathrow shuttle service in 1977 and 3 years later the first scheduled service to a European city was started by NLM Cityhopper which operated flights to Amsterdam.

Work finished on the second stage of the long term development plan in 1983, which included the completion of the dedicated international pier, relocation of the check-in area and the installation of the moving walkway. The Airport was renamed Belfast International.

On 20th July 1994, Belfast International Airport was privatised following a management buy-out resulting in the creation of Belfast International Airport Holdings Ltd. In 1995, Air Force One landed at Belfast International carrying the former US President and First Lady, Bill and Hilary Clinton.

In 2004 Annual passenger numbers hit the 4.5 million mark and in 2007 Aer Lingus open their first base outside of the Republic of Ireland at Belfast International Airport.

US-based ADC & HAS Airports Worldwide completes the acquisition of Belfast International Airport from TBI Limited in 2013 and on 29th August 2018 Belfast International Airport was bought by VINCI Airports.