A report by the Northern Ireland Audit Office has concluded that the British taxpayer lost £11.6 million sterling from the privatisation of Belfast International Airport three years ago.

The airport was sold to a management buy-out (MBO) group for £32.8 million sterling. The MBO group then sold the airport to the Welsh airports and property group, TBI, for £107 million sterling last year, with three senior airport executives each receiving £6.4 million sterling from the sale. The British government received a total of £48 million when the airport was sold to the management group - the £32.8 million from the MBO group and £15 million cash that had been on the airport's balance sheet.

The audit office, however, has now concluded that the government could have made a further £11.6 million sterling from the sale had it included a clause in the sale agreement which would have entitled it to 20 per cent of "super profits" if the airport was sold within three years.