Belfast International Airport Statistics

Belfast International Airport (BFS) is Northern Ireland's main aviation hub and the region's busiest airport, serving both business and leisure travel across the UK and Europe.

Belfast International Airport handles more than 6 million passengers annually.

• BFS processed 6.68 million passengers in 2025, a 0.7% decrease from 2024, but still above 2023 levels.
• The airport served 6.28 million passengers in 2019 before the pandemic.
• Passenger traffic dropped 72% to 1.75 million in 2020, one of the sharpest declines during the COVID-19 crisis.
• Traffic began recovering with 2.33 million passengers in 2021, followed by 4.82 million in 2022.
• Passenger numbers continued rising to 5.96 million in 2023 and 6.73 million in 2024.

Domestic vs International Travelers

Belfast International Airport sees a majority of domestic UK travel, with a strong international leisure segment.

• Domestic passengers totaled 4.01 million in 2025, or 60% of all traffic.
• International passengers numbered 2.67 million, accounting for 40% of the total.

easyJet operates the most flights out of Belfast International Airport, with Ryanair as its primary competitor on several routes.

• easyJet serves 43 destinations from BFS, making it the largest operator.
• Jet2.com focuses on leisure destinations and package holidays, flying to 26 destinations.
• Ryanair UK (RK), run by Buzz in Poland under the Ryanair Group, operates 17 routes.
• Ryanair (FR), the main Irish-based airline, serves 10 destinations.

Belfast International Airport offers flights to more than 70 destinations across the UK and Europe.

• The Winter 2024 schedule featured 400 weekly flights to over 70 destinations.
• The core year-round network includes approximately 50 to 60 regular routes serving both business and leisure markets.
• New destinations added in 2024 included Larnaca, Enfidha, Porto and Turin.
• The Winter 2024 expansion brought new routes to Prague, Marrakech and Kaunas.
• Most routes focus on UK domestic travel and European leisure destinations.

Belfast International Airport handles more than 17,000 tonnes of cargo annually, serving as a key logistics hub for Northern Ireland.

• The airport processed 17,986 tonnes of cargo in 2025, a 27.3% decrease from 24,724 tonnes in 2024.
• Pre-pandemic peak cargo volume reached 30,073 tonnes in 2014.
• In 2019, cargo totaled 25,095 tonnes.
• Despite the pandemic, cargo increased to 27,946 tonnes in 2020 and 28,225 tonnes in 2021.
• Cargo declined to 23,526 tonnes in 2022, then to 22,280 tonnes in 2023, before a modest rebound in 2024.

• Adverse weather conditions including snow, ice, and fog frequently impact operations, requiring de-icing procedures and potentially reducing runway capacity.
• Air Traffic Control system failures across the UK and Europe create significant network-wide disruptions, with major NATS technical glitches causing widespread delays.
• Airline operational challenges including crew shortages, aircraft technical issues, and maintenance requirements contribute to cancellations.
• Network ripple effects occur when delays at major destination airports create cascading disruptions affecting Belfast's connecting services.
• Infrastructure dependencies on major airports like London Luton, where incidents such as the October 2023 car park fire directly impacted Belfast operations.