Eastern Airways is expanding the number of routes it provides from Southampton Airport to six with the announcement that it will reconnect the south coast of England to Belfast City.
From Monday 23rd March 2020, the UK regional airline will provide up to seven flights a week from Southampton to Belfast City Airport, which was a former Flybe route.
This week, Eastern Airways has already moved rapidly to commence services from Southampton to Manchester and Newcastle, both initially at 11 flights a week along with a new route to Teesside International Airport in the north east of England with 11 flights a week.
For many years Eastern Airways has provided a Southampton to Leeds Bradford service with up to 15 flights a week, and from 27th April 2020 the carrier will offer a Southampton link to Aberdeen via Teesside International.
Flights are bookable at www.easternairways.com and the airline provides complimentary on-board refreshments as part of the service. as well as a minimum of 15kg of free hold baggage.
Roger Hage, Eastern Airways’ General Manager Commercial & Operations, said: “Adding a Belfast City service from Southampton Airport, along with our new Manchester and Newcastle services which we started here today, following Monday’s launch to Teesside, is a significant expansion with up to 70 departures a week in total. We are ensuring Southampton is reconnected to the regions throughout England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“Initially the Belfast City route will be daily and reconnects the south coast of England to Belfast for business and leisure, while inbound passengers have the London rail connection within the hour and access to the major cruise offering via the port. By providing six destinations from Southampton, frequency and additional destinations will continue to increase.”
Neil Garwood, Managing Director of Southampton Airport, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have reconnected our route network to Belfast with Eastern Airways. Belfast has long been one of our most in-demand destinations, and importantly this will once again enable vital regional connectivity with Northern Ireland. We look forward to enhancing our route network further with Eastern Airways.”
Following Flybe entering administration, the full existing Eastern Airways network has continued to operate as normal. The independent operator, which was a former franchise partner of Flybe, moved quickly returning to its own standalone booking system over the weekend. Travel agents will also be able to book Eastern Airways services directly as the airline returns to its original T3 flight code.
From Southampton, the airline provides scheduled flights to Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Teesside International, Belfast City and Aberdeen. The airline has based aircraft at Southampton Airport and intends over time to have up to five aircraft there.
The Humberside Airport-based carrier offers a network of routes from airports including Aberdeen, Alicante, Anglesey, Belfast City, Birmingham, Cardiff, Dublin, Humberside, Isle of Man, Leeds Bradford, London City, Manchester, Newcastle, Southampton, Teesside International and Wick John O’Groats.
