British European will invest £8 million sterling (€13.2 million) to develop a new route from Belfast to London. The British airline gave away more than £12,000 sterling worth of free business flights at the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce's annual lunch yesterday to introduce the service.

Mr Jim French, the deputy chief executive of British European, said the airline was reinvesting in the North because it believed the opening of the new £22 million Belfast City Airport later this month would help develop its business to and from the North.