June 16, 2007

We would love Belfast link restored: BA boss

British Airways would love to revive its service from Belfast to London Heathrow, the airline's chief executive officer has said.

Willie Walsh told the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce yesterday that everything hinged on the proposal for a third runway at Heathrow.

Mr Walsh, who formerly ran Aer Lingus, said he knew that many people in the business community in Northern Ireland wanted BA to restore its Aldergrove to Heathrow service.

The Belfast Shuttle was axed in 2001, a decision that the company blamed on 9/11. The Belfast slots at Heathrow were then re-allocated to long-haul routes.

Referring to the decision to "suspend" the route, Mr Walsh said: " It was a difficult decision at the time.

"The route remains one that we would consider reviving if infrastructure constraints allowed us to. The blunt truth is that there are not enough runway slots at Heathrow to support this kind of regional service.

"We would love to change this situation and are pressing the Government very hard to increase runway capacity."

By Robin Morton
The full of this article's can be read on the source at: Belfast Telegraph

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