Ryanair practicing their approach into Belfast City

Tonight's tea time BE970 flight from London Gatwick to Belfast City is being operated by Ryanair on behalf of Flybe.

Are Ryanair getting in some practice for the pilots who'll be coming in and out of "the harbour" when their service starts up in a short while?

Or are Flybe still short a few planes since their Dash-8 turboprops were grounded?

No matter the reason, there was a real look of concern and some nervous giggling when the announcement was made in the lounge!

Update: Shouldn't have laughed. Should never laugh at an airport. Having herded the 102 passengers into Gatwick's gate 6, the ground staff announced that the plane had technical problems, and that we should head back to main departures area and keep our eyes on the screens for an update in an hour and a quarter's time. In the end, we boarded the "spare" easyJet plane at Gatwick and landed an hour and a bit late in Belfast International.

Turned out that the plane we were supposed to board developed problems with its brakes on the taxi into stand. The engineer was seen walking away from plane saying "no, that's not going anywhere". As the dispatcher commented: "You'd be ok to take off, but it's the landing that would be a worry!"