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British Airways launches a new route to Belfast City Airport

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British Airways has announced its first new route for some time, if you exclude those routes forcibly moved from Gatwick to Heathrow in recent weeks!

From 1st September, BA CityFlyer will fly from London City Airport to Belfast City Airport.  It will run daily, except Saturdays.

British Airways launches London City Airport to Belfast City Airport

British Airways and its sister airline Aer Lingus already fly to Belfast City from Heathrow.  London City to Belfast City was previously operated by Flybe.

If you are thinking of trying out the route, our review of the British Airways lounge at Belfast City is here and our review of the Aspire Lounge at Belfast City is here.  Aspire has recently taken over the management of the British Airways lounge and it is possible that the two spaces will be merged at some point.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (35)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Alex Sm says:

    Will BA follow suit with its black card? Would be nice of them. My renewal is in August

    • Andrew says:

      Or at least maybe a spend £50 at Waitrose/M&S offer, similar to what they did with Platinum card

    • eligold says:

      We really need to get the pressure up against AMEX and get then to do the same on the BAPP card

      • Andrew says:

        Yeah I’m not sure a few extra Avios at supermarkets which they are currently offering really cuts it – plus I think we’ve all got more Avios than we can spend due to cancelled trips, that extra Avios probably aren’t really a priority at the moment. It would be good to see a money back deal for flight bookings too maybe.

        • Alex Sm says:

          Not really! I got a massive negative balance of Avios on black Amex card because of refunds. Was not helpful at all…

  • Aaron says:

    I’m really happy about the new route, saves me trekking across London to get to Heathrow.

    Won’t get the advantage of the lounge but it should save plenty of time.

  • Travel Strong says:

    From hfp comments it feels like those that started (or already renewed) their virgin+ card year in 2020 are getting the £40 now, and those that started last year (i.e. have a renewal due later in 2020) are not getting the £40 unless they renew.

    Anyone have any experience to the contrary?

  • fivebobbill says:

    Can anyone tell me if I will be able to collect/use Avios on the new BA CityFlyer Belfast flight, and would it count as a flight towards your BA status?

    • fivebobbill says:

      Sorry, just to add, I used this connection regularly pre Covid when FlyBe operated it and was very sorry to see it go, much more convenient than Heathrow, and able to use/collect Avios on it.

    • Rob says:

      Yes and yes.

  • Paul says:

    Virgins refund of £40 with strings attached was a very generous offer. Compared this to AmericaN Express’ response which required expenditure or for there to be a blue moon and your birthday before they provided any support. I seen Amex UK has probably been one of the meanest responses globally with EU colleagues being showered with points and offers.
    As of this morning I do not have a single offer on my BAPP card and 5 utterly useless offers on the platinum card, I mean who is buying a hamper?!
    I was going to use the Dell offer until Dell increased prices by 16% just after it launched!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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