The number of passengers at Charleroi airport grew by 5.5 million (10%) compared to 2014.
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Ryanair hasn’t had a presence in Belfast since 2010 when it departed the rival Belfast City Airport following delays to a planned runway extension.
Rolling annual traffic to December 2015 was up 17pc, the airline said, with a total of 101.4 million customers carried over the calender year.
The airline said the strong December passenger levels were despite the predicted reduction in bookings in the weeks following the terrorist attacks in Paris.
“Our traffic growth over the past two years has been remarkable, rising by 50 per cent over our December 2013 traffic figure of 5 million”, said Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s chief marketing officer.
The base, which will operate four return flights per day, is to open in March this year.
He added: “We are pleased that over 101m worldwide customers chose to fly with Ryanair in 2015, as we became the first airline to reach this global traffic landmark”.
“The Gatwick slots given up by Aer Lingus as part of the IAG takeover, are being safeguarded and used for the benefit of Northern Ireland”.
Basing three aircraft at the airport and operating a Gatwick service, as well as serving five other routes, signals a major ramping up of activity at one of the top employers in the region.
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Flights to Gatwick from Belfast International are expected to be the first unveiled, with European routes to Barcelona, Berlin and Brussels set to follow.
