Belfast International Airport: July was busiest month on record

Belfast International Airport is celebrating its busiest month on record.

July saw no fewer than 700,000 passengers fly off to 70 destinations on board nearly 6,000 flights, according to new airport figures.

The most popular destination during this period was Palma in Majorca.

The busiest day was July 14th - with more than 26,000 passengers travelling through the Airport.

Dan Owens, Chief Executive Officer, said; “This year we expanded our range of routes and frequencies for the summer period, which have helped drive the July figures we are releasing today. All of our airlines have added new destinations to our route portfolio including Malta, Bodrum, Tunisia and Larnaca which indicates that there is clear demand to travel to a wide range of destinations.”

During the month 40,000 passengers heading to Palma - making it the top hot-spot for Northern Ireland's holidaymakers.

Other popular destinations included Faro, Paris, and Dalaman in Turkey.

According to the airport the data also shows that 90% of passengers waited for less than 15 minutes to get through security.

It comes as new security arrangements will be in place in the coming weeks.

Dan Owens continued; “Our continued growth reflects the strategic focus we have on improving the overall customer experience as well as on increasing connectivity and choice. Our journey to transforming the passenger experience is well underway with one year of our £100m five-year investment plan almost complete.

"This investment will see the opening of our new security search hall in the coming weeks as well as further upgrades to terminal facilities, commercial areas, seating and gate areas and a new duty free and hospitality offering.”