It's been a good year so far for Belfast City Airport as it welcomed over 200,000 passengers, surpassing the previously held record with four months remaining before the end of the year.
The airport's previous annual high was 171,270, which was only set in 2015, and at this stage by September last year 128,709 passengers had used the international route.
The record was helped by Brussels Airlines, which has recorded consecutive monthly growth since it launched its five times weekly flights to Belfast, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which has carried 55,000 passengers to Belfast since opening its Amsterdam Schiphol service.
Discussing the record passenger numbers, Katy Best, the commercial and marketing manager for Belfast City Airport said: "To reach the milestone of over 200,000 international passengers almost four months before the end of the year is fantastic news for the airport and for the city of Belfast, and provides a major boost for Northern Ireland tourism.
"The record passenger figures reflect our plans to significantly grow our European route network and are further evidence of the public demand for flights to key European destinations from an airport so close to Belfast city centre. Our sunshine routes have proved as popular as ever this year and with the addition in June of [flights to] Alicante, it's been a really strong summer for Aer Lingus at Belfast City Airport."
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, added: "The latest figures published by NISRA confirm that we welcomed almost 400,000 overseas visitors to Northern Ireland in the first quarter of 2016, an increase of 8 per cent over the same three-month period in 2015. Tourism Ireland is determined to ensure that tourism growth continues. Today, we are launching our £7 million Autumn campaign to boost late-season travel to Northern Ireland from around the world."
