"Blue Lights On the Runway" was released in Ireland on 20 February 2009, and in the US on 3 March. It went straight to No.1 in the Irish album charts and went Top 20 stateside in the Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart. The record received generally favourable reviews both sides of the Atlantic and currently holds a Metacritic aggregate rating of 73/100. Billboard described the album as having "cold, wonderous Radiohead-esque moments within a warmer sound all their own" while NPR praised the record’s "artfully constructed songs and offbeat lyrics". PopMatters described the album as "delicate", "expansive" and Bell X1’s best work to date. The album was nominated for the Choice Music Prize that year.