The Ulster Unionist Party’s South Antrim MLA Danny Kinahan has expressed his surprise at the news that Jet2 flights from Belfast International Airport to and from Leeds/Bradford are to be switched to the George Best City Airport “due to increased safety concerns during current runway maintenance programme.”
Mr Kinahan said;
“The International Airport is a massive asset to South Antrim and for any airline to cite “safety concerns” as a reason for transferring services to the City Airport is obviously a matter of great concern.
As a South Antrim representative I can say that I have an excellent working relationship with Belfast International Airport and I know just how seriously they take the issue of safety.
I do not know exactly what has prompted Jet2 to take this action, but I do know that there are a large number of other airlines who regularly fly in and out of the International Airport and they have not raised any misgivings.
I have contacted the International Airport’s senior management regarding Jet2’s claims about safety during the runway maintenance programme, and I am absolutely confident that there is no way in which they would permit any airline to use the International if there was any doubt over safety.”