Ryanair will stop all its Northern Ireland services by the end of October, blaming both Belfast airports and the level of Air Passenger Duty.
The budget carrier is pulling its routes from Belfast International to Alicante, Malaga, Krakow, Warsaw Gdansk and Milan by October 30.
Malaga remains served from Belfast International by easyJet, Jet2 and Tui; Alicante is served by easyJet and Jet2; and Krakow remains served by easyJet. The other three routes (Milan, Warsaw, Gdansk) will lapse temporarily.
Summer services from Belfast City to popular holiday hotspots in Spain, Portugal and Italy had already been due to finish at the end of the summer.
Ryanair stopped flying from City of Derry Airport earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the airline said: “Due to the UK government’s refusal to suspend or reduce APD (Air Passenger Duty), and the lack of Covid recovery incentives from both Belfast airports, this winter Ryanair will cease operations from Belfast International and Belfast City Airport from the end of the summer schedule in October.
“These aircraft will be reallocated to lower cost airports elsewhere in the UK and Europe for the winter schedule which starts in November.”
A Belfast International Airport spokesman said: “It is disappointing that Ryanair has now decided to withdraw operations from the entire Northern Ireland market at the end of October, having variously had a presence in all three local airports in recent years.
“It has been a difficult period for aviation and a time when consumers need some stability and faith in the Northern Ireland air transport network.
“As we have been anticipating such a move, we have been engaging with our existing and other new airlines to provide continuity on the routes to be vacated by Ryanair, and to help sustain employment in the aviation industry at a local level in Northern Ireland. To this end we hope to be able to make announcements regarding fresh route development in the near future.”
Rory Boland, Which? travel editor, tweeted: “Really, really disappointing news for Northern Ireland residents. Ryanair leaving not only reduces the options for holidays, but less competition on key routes like Belfast-London will almost certainly lead to higher prices.”
Really, really disappointing news for Northern Ireland residents. Ryanair leaving not only reduces the options for holidays, but less competition on key routes like Belfast-London will almost certainly lead to higher prices. https://t.co/7zMfAmj29w
— Rory Boland (@roryboland) August 24, 2021
Travel data and analytics expert Cirium noted that, for the key summer months of July and August 2021, 374 Ryanair flights were scheduled to depart Northern Ireland – 100 from Belfast International and 274 from Belfast City.
Ryanair’s biggest destination, by flights, from Northern Ireland was Malaga.
For the 12 months ending August 2021, Ryanair was Northern Ireland’s fourth largest carrier in terms of seats, following easyJet, Aer Lingus, and British Airways.
For the coming winter, Ryanair had been scheduled to operate 143 flights from Northern Ireland and offer more than 27,000 seats.