Aer Lingus's controversial move to Northern Ireland is beginning today with return flights from Belfast International Airport to Amsterdam and Barcelona.
The airline said it had good bookings for the flights - two to and from Amsterdam and one return flight to Barcelona - with the inaugural flight at 6.15am this morning to Amsterdam.
While the move from Shannon to Northern Ireland continues to cause anger in the west of Ireland, the move has earned the support and approval of all the main parties in the North.
In the coming months, Aer Lingus is opening up eight routes out of Belfast International Airport, which is 18 miles outside Belfast and is commonly known as Aldergrove.
In addition to Amsterdam and Barcelona, Aer Lingus will serve London Heathrow, Geneva, Faro, Malaga, Budapest and Rome. The Geneva service begins tomorrow, with other services coming on stream in the new year. The Heathrow route begins in January.
Aer Lingus is also planning to open a ninth route, to Nice.
Aer Lingus is confident that the transfer from Shannon to the North will make commercial sense. Chief executive Dermot Mannion will be in Belfast today, again arguing the merits of the move.
Some initial industrial relations problems relating to pay and conditions for pilots at Aldergrove have also been resolved.
Aer Lingus is investing £100 million in its Aldergrove operation, which includes the purchase of three A320 aircraft. It is employing 30 pilots at Belfast International - 15 captains and 15 co-pilots - and 60 cabin crew.
An outside company using Aer Lingus livery is running ground operations. The company announced yesterday that Dick Butler, Aer Lingus's operations director, has been appointed base manager for its Northern Ireland operation.
The airline hopes to carry 500,000 passengers in its first full year of operations. It has a target profit of about six million for the first year of business.
Notwithstanding continuing criticism of the move from Shannon, Aer Lingus insists that the transfer is "critical" to the overall future of the airline.
