Cap on 2m departures from Belfast airport set to be lifted

A planning restriction which limits the number of departure seats sold by George Best Belfast City Airport to 2 million annually is set to be removed.

Sinn Féin's Minister for Infrastructure Chris Hazzard has agreed in principle to lift the restriction in spite of objections by local residents. They want the limit to remain in place because of concerns over increased traffic and greater noise in and around the airport.

Airport management has argued that removing the cap would increase its potential to attract more European flights and increase sales.

A spokeswoman for Mr Hazzard’s department said his decision was taken “in principle”, and was “subject to resolving the technical issues around the proposed noise-management system” at the east Belfast airport.