Belfast to Gatwick: the route, and the choice of two Belfast airports

Gatwick flies to both of Belfast's airports, and easyJet operates both routes from the North Terminal. Plan on about an hour and 25 minutes either way. easyJet quotes about an hour and 20 minutes for London to Belfast, but that covers its London airports as a group, and the Gatwick pairing sits at the longer end of it because Gatwick is the furthest of them from Belfast. The distance is 337 miles to Belfast City and 349 miles to Belfast International, close enough that the flight time barely separates them.

The two airports are not close to each other, and that is the whole point of this page:

• George Best Belfast City (BHD) sits three miles from Belfast city centre. The airport calls it a five minute hop, its taxi partner quotes ten minutes to City Hall, and a shuttle bus runs to Belfast Grand Central Station in around ten minutes. Sydenham rail halt is a short walk along the Sydenham Bypass for trains into Lanyon Place and Grand Central.
• Belfast International (BFS) is at Aldergrove, about 13 miles north-west of the city. There is no rail station, so the trip in is by bus, taxi or car, and it takes materially longer.

The route works the same in both directions. Gatwick to Belfast is the same airline, the same terminal and the same flight time, and the choice between the two Belfast airports is the same choice made in the other order.

easyJet is the only airline flying Belfast to Gatwick, and it is the reason the choice of Belfast airport exists at all: it serves both ends of the pair itself. Belfast City Airport lists easyJet as its Gatwick operator, and Belfast International's airline roster is easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair and TUI. None of the other three fly Belfast to Gatwick, so on this city pair there is no competing carrier here.

Belfast sits in a small domestic group at Gatwick. The airport's direct network runs to more than 220 destinations, but the UK part of it is compact, and easyJet's domestic core from Gatwick covers Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Jersey. The airlines flying from Gatwick page places easyJet's operation against the rest of the airport, and destinations from Gatwick keeps the wider network view.

Every service is direct, and there is no sensible connecting version of the route. Frequencies and departure times shift with the season on both Belfast routes, so the live departures board is the right place to check what is running today rather than any figure printed on a page.

On Gatwick's Scottish routes the interesting comparison is with the railway. Here it does not exist: there is no rail link between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and the surface alternative is a ferry to Cairnryan or Liverpool plus a long drive, which turns a 90 minute flight into an overnight trip. Unless you need your own car in Northern Ireland, flying is the answer and the only real decision is where you fly from.

That makes this a question about London geography rather than about aviation:

• Gatwick suits south London, Surrey, Sussex and the Brighton corridor, and it is the airport that lets you choose your Belfast airport. If Belfast City's location is worth something to you, that choice is Gatwick's strongest card.
• Luton and Stansted are usually faster to reach from north London and the M1 and M11 corridors, and they also serve Belfast. From that side of the city they will normally beat Gatwick on door-to-door time.
• Heathrow serves Belfast City only, on British Airways, at fares that reflect having no low-cost competition. That extra cost is worth paying when you are connecting onward, and rarely otherwise.

Gatwick's own case is honestly a modest one on domestic flying. It is not the closest London airport to most of the capital, and its domestic network is small next to its European and long-haul flying. Where it wins on this route is the two-airport choice, and the connecting option into its leisure long-haul network, which lets a Belfast passenger reach the Caribbean, Florida and the rest of Gatwick's long-haul map on one trip through a single airport. See connecting flights at Gatwick for how a self-transfer works here, and note that most easyJet connections are not through-ticketed, so the risk sits with you.

Both Belfast routes use the North Terminal, because that is where easyJet operates at Gatwick and where its check-in sits. Getting to the right terminal is the one thing worth double-checking before you set off: Gatwick's two terminals are separate buildings linked by an inter-terminal shuttle, and arriving at the South Terminal for a North Terminal flight costs time you may not have budgeted. The North Terminal guide covers the layout and the North Terminal map shows where bag drop, security and the gates sit.

Belfast flights are domestic, so there is no border control on arrival at either end. You land, collect any checked bags and leave, which makes the arrival one of the quicker ones at Gatwick. It also means no passport requirement at the border, though easyJet still requires accepted photo identification to travel, and non-UK travellers should carry a passport.

If you have time before a flight, the North Terminal lounges page covers what is available airside. For a connection onto a long-haul departure, check which terminal it leaves from before you plan the gap, because a terminal change adds time on top of a self-transfer that is already your responsibility.

Fly it from south London and the south-east. If Gatwick is your natural airport, this is a straightforward route with a short flight and a choice of arrival airport that no other London option gives you. Take it.

Pick Belfast City if your time is worth more than the fare gap. Three miles from the centre, ten minutes to City Hall by taxi, a shuttle to Belfast Grand Central and a rail halt within walking distance. On a short trip, or one with a meeting at the far end, the city airport routinely saves an hour of door-to-door time against Aldergrove.

Pick Belfast International if the fare gap is the point, or if you are heading north or west. Aldergrove is on the right side of the city for Antrim, the Causeway coast and Londonderry, and the fares from it are usually the lower ones. If you are picking up a hire car and driving out of Belfast, the extra distance from the centre costs you nothing.

Look at Luton or Stansted if you live north of the river. Gatwick is a long way south for much of London, and the trip to the airport can cost more time than the flight saves. Both alternatives serve Belfast, and from north London one of them will usually be the better trip.

Use Heathrow instead if you are connecting onto a long-haul flight. A through-ticketed British Airways connection at Heathrow protects you if the first leg slips. A self-transfer at Gatwick does not, and on a leisure long-haul departure that runs once a day, a missed connection is a serious problem rather than an inconvenience.