Flybe begins flights to Belfast from Manston

The first flight from Belfast landed at Kent International Airport this afternoon ahead of schedule.The Flybe plane, which was expected at 1.20pm, touched down at Manston's runway 15 minutes early.Chief executive Charles Buchanan said:Today marks the start of our Belfast flights and also the first anniversary of our Edinburgh flight.

It is a great day and a momentous day and wonderful opportunity to take another step forward in developing the airport.The hassle free, easy facilities that we have here, the immediate access from the car park to the check-in and straight out to the aircraft, combined with the city centre location that Belfast City, George Best airport offers means that if you are getting on that aircraft you are only a few hours away from Northern Ireland hospitality.It is important to us as an airport to build a network of route to serve the needs of our community, serve the needs of our economy, particularly in these times.

We are keen to make the biggest success as possible of the airport.Paul Willoughby, regional sales manager for Flybe, said:We are very excited.We have a long, long history operating out of Belfast and I believe we have somewhere in the region of 17 routes and this is another additional route to Belfast.I think that he most important thing is that we need to get people to use it.It is a new service and we need people to recognise what a fantastic opportunity it is to fly direct and see Northern Ireland and similarly we could work it the other way.We just need to make a success of it because it on sale until the end of the summer, in October, and if it is a success during the summer there is no reason we can't extend it into the winter, especially as this one is a mixture of business and pleasure.There will be three flights a week to the city, leaving at 13.45pm on a Tuesday and Thursday and 12.50pm on a Sunday.