Budget airline Flybe axes Belfast to Gatwick flights
Budget airline Flybe has announced that direct flights from George Best Belfast City Airport to London Gatwick have been dropped.
Flybe will drop direct flights from George Best Belfast City Airport to London Gatwick. Credit: Flybe
The company, which recently had to cut around 10% of its workforce, said it has sold all of its Gatwick arrival and departure slots to Easyjet for £20 million.
The decision will particularly affect Northern Ireland commuters and travellers connecting to other destinations. Easyjet, which operates out of Belfast International Airport, is unlikely to retain the City link.
A Flybe statement accused Gatwick's owners of trying to squeeze out smaller air carriers with charges and claimed fees had amounted to a 102% rise over the last five years.
"No business can swallow such a massive increase in such a short period of time and it is with real regret and some anger that we have made this decision.
"Flybe fully appreciates the implications this will have not only on Northern Ireland passengers but also on the wider regional economy which has come to rely on the convenient lifeline connections we provide to Gatwick."
Police are studying CCTV images from across Gatwick Airport in a bid to identify two men who dumped a van in a North Terminal car park sparking a major security alert.
Passengers at the North Terminal at Gatwick Airport. Credit: Ashleigh Carroll/Twitter
The blue Renault van was driven into the short stay car park on Wednesday afternoon.
When it was spotted, routine checks showed it to be unregistered, untaxed and uninsured and a call across the airport for the driver to return to the vehicle was not heeded.
As a result, police called upon an explosive ordnance disposal unit (EOD) who carried a controlled explosion.
Video of passengers waiting to be moved during alert
Video of passengers at the North Terminal waiting for buses. Controlled explosions have been carried out on a suspicious vehicle. Video from Matthew Squires.
Passengers at North Terminal wait for buses during alert
Crowds wait for buses from the terminal Credit: Ashleigh Carroll
Passengers at North Terminal in Gatwick wait for a bus to another terminal. Police investigating a suspicious van at Gatwick Airport are working with a bomb disposal unit. Suspicions were raised about a Renault van this afternoon.
A spokesman for Gatwick said the main runway reopened at 5.25am and no major delays are expected today although there could be minor disruption to some flights.
"It would be prudent for passengers to check with their airlines just in case," he added.
We had some planned runway maintenance works scheduled for last night which all flight operators were informed about and when we do that we have to use our second runway which is a visual strip.
We then suffered some fog which led to 24 aircraft being diverted.
