Aer Lingus bookings reach 1m mark

Aer Lingus has been hit hard by the downturn in global travel

Irish airline Aer Lingus said it has taken 1m bookings in the 17 months since it began operating from Belfast International Airport.

It said 79% of seats on its London flights were occupied, a rise of a quarter on figures from last April.

The Belfast to Malaga, Lanzarote and Paris routes are also proving popular.

Aer Lingus recently announced it planned to reduce some of its services from Belfast and Dublin because of the economic downturn.

It is the second biggest carrier operating from the Northern Ireland airport behind low-cost airline Easyjet.

Ryanair, which operates from George Best Belfast City Airport, claimed its services attracted 50% more passengers than Aer Lingus over the past 17 months.

Ryanair said it did so while using one Belfast-based aircraft, compared to the three planes located at Aldergrove by Aer Lingus.

The establishment of the Aer Lingus base in Belfast caused controversy as it involved switching Heathrow connections from Shannon.