George Best Belfast City Airport has announced a £15 million infrastructure investment.

The investment includes a major upgrade of its departure lounge, incorporating its retail, food and beverage offering.

The airport's central security area and hold baggage screening facilities will also be upgraded, as well as the purchase of a new fleet of Airport Fire appliances.

There will be in excess of a 30% increase in retail space, with an expanded offering from World Duty Free and WH Smith. Food and beverage facilities will be expanded by 25%, with a broader choice for customers being introduced along with partner HMS Host, which operates existing facilities including the Bushmills Bar.

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Additionally, customer seating will be more than doubled, as will airside customer washroom facilities, which will also be fully refurbished.

The completed works will be contained within the current terminal building and will be finished by October 2018.

Brian Ambrose, Chief Executive of Belfast City Airport, said: "In keeping with our overall mission of delivering an airport experience that exceeds our customers' expectations, Belfast City Airport is fully committed to continually improving the overall journey for our passengers. The £15m investment in our infrastructure is another major reinforcement of our commitment.

"The upgrading of our departure lounge and retail offering will provide greater choice and significantly enhance the experience for our core business and leisure passengers as they travel through the airport.

"The strategic designs help future-proof the airport and we look forward to continuing what has been a successful period across many areas of our business."

(CD/LM)