A £7 million investment in Belfast City Airport next year will see new terminal facilities for aircraft, a new departures hall and improved parking arrangements, Shorts, the operators, announced yesterday.

The aerospace company - which is owned by the Canadian group, Bombardier and is the North's biggest private sector employer, is vacating a former aerospace operations site at Sydenham to make way for the ongoing programme of improvements.

The company estimates that City Airport now handles 43 per cent of scheduled domestic flights in and out of Northern Ireland.

"Preparations are now well underway for new car parking facilities adjacent to the terminal building, an additional taxi-way, plus apron and stand improvements which will enable 10 aircraft to be parked alongside the terminal," the company stated.

Mr John Doran, the airport director, said that, despite the relocating of the London Stansted route earlier this year to Belfast International Airport, business in 1997 had grown substantially on all other routes.

"The introduction of a new jet service by British Regional Airways on routes such as Southampton was another important improvement for passengers," he said. Belfast City Airport employs 300 people directly, with a further 400 staff working for airlines and tenants.

The airport handles about 4,000 passengers a day and had a 6.5 per cent growth rate in 1996. Its new £1.5 million sterling arrivals hall opened earlier this year.

The airport operates services to Dusseldorf and Paris, via connections in England. Shorts employs 6,200 people in its aerospace, missiles and airport operations, and a further 2,800 in overseas services.