New Avios routes are coming to Belfast City Airport

Emerald Airlines has confirmed that it is launching flights to the UK mainland from Belfast City Airport.

As we covered on HfP recently, Emerald Airlines is the start-up carrier which is taking over the Aer Lingus Regional routes from the defunct Stobart Air.

Emerald Airlines has already announced the routes which it will launch from Dublin from March 2022. As an Aer Lingus franchise, the aircraft and crew will be branded as Aer Lingus and you can earn and spend Avios on these flights.

Emerald has now announced its first batch of routes from Belfast City Airport. Whilst there is no start date yet (“later this year”), the airline intends to fly to:

• Birmingham
• Edinburgh
• Exeter
• Glasgow
• Leeds Bradford
• Manchester

Whilst no deal has yet been agreed, the plan is that these routes will be operated under the Aer Lingus Regional brand and will also codeshare with British Airways.

Flights to London Heathrow and London City Airport from Belfast City will not be part of this agreement. These routes will continue to operated directly by Aer Lingus and British Airways.

You can find out more on the Belfast City Airport website here.

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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:

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

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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

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.

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