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New Avios routes are coming to Belfast City Airport via Aer Lingus

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Emerald Airlines recently launched flights to the UK mainland from Belfast City Airport, operating as an Aer Lingus franchise.

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

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 is already flying to the following airports from Belfast City:

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

On Monday, it announced two new routes:

  • Cardiff
  • Southampton

Flights on these two new routes start on 7th July.

All Emerald Airlines flights under the Aer Lingus Regional brand are operated by ATR72-600 turboprop aircraft – image above. 

Flights between London Heathrow and London City Airport from Belfast City are not be part of this agreement. These routes continue to operated directly by Aer Lingus and British Airways (from Heathrow) and BA CityFlyer (from London City).

You can book these flights via the Aer Lingus website here.

You can find out more about these new routes on the Emerald Airlines website here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (November 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

Get 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

30,000 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

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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 (3)

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

  • Dubious says:

    “Flights between London and London City Airport.”
    London Heathrow?

  • Graham says:

    I’ll miss the E190s from BA CF flying GLA to BFS. I really don’t like these ATRs, so claustrophobic to fly on. At least for me.

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

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