Bombardier will spend £21 million sterling (#33.5 million) on a redevelopment of Belfast City Airport, the Canadian-owned company said yesterday. Construction of a new terminal starts in mid-January, with 200 building workers to be hired.

The two-storey terminal will accommodate 20 check-in desks, executive boarding lounges, fully-enclosed walkways to the aircraft, a restaurant and retail outlets and baggage management facilities.

The airport also wants a new railway station to be sited directly opposite the new terminal.

While the first phase of the development is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2000, subsequent development would see a new road access to the airport.

"It will significantly improve services for air travellers and be capable of catering for the gradual growth in air travel which we foresee over the next 10 years," said Mr Ken Brundle, the general manager of Bombardier Aerospace in Northern Ireland.

The company predicted the growth in air travel would be fuelled by political and economic progress.

The airport first opened 16 years ago, and recorded just 85,000 passenger journeys in its first year.

Bombardier acquired the business when it bought Shorts in 1989.

A spokesman said yesterday Belfast City now had 1.3 million passenger trips a year, and was expanding rapidly.

A rival to Aldergrove, the airport caters for almost half of all air traffic between Belfast and Britain.

The director of the airport, Mr John Doran, said he was grateful for the broad support for the expansion plans from public representatives and local residents.