The news that Aer Lingus are to open four, later eight, new routes from Belfast has caused much excitement. But there are only two new routes among these eight. The others are a fairly transparent attempt to give Easyjet one on the chin.

The return of a Belfast International to Heathrow route will be a boon for those wanting to get to Heathrow while avoiding metropolitan Belfast. But apart from that, Amsterdam is a very long established Easyjet route. Geneva is a long established winter Easyjet route. Barcelona is a long established Jet2 route which Easyjet is also due to muscle in on in November. Rome is an existing Easyjet route. Malaga is an existing Easyjet route. Faro is an… er… existing Easyjet route, and hardly of huge strategic importance. Budapest is, amazingly, really new. I’m surprised no-one has cottoned on to the potential of a direct Belfast-Vilnius fight given the size of the Lithuanian community these days.

All in all, is this a boon for the Belfast traveller or Aer Lingus trying to go head to head with Easyjet in one of its most profitable hubs? Sure we’ll all benefit from the price war this winter, but is there anything here that looks sustainable in the long run? Other than the Budapest and Heathrow routes, and possibly additional capacity on the busy Amsterdam route, I don’t see it.

Aer Lingus are sort of hinting that maybe they'll start a transatlantic route from Belfast some day. Sure, whatever. By the time they get there the Canadian cheapies like Zoom might have that market sewn up anyway.