BELFASTCity Airport has started work on the first phase of a £21m development to improve terminal facilities.
Construction of a two-storey terminal is due for completion by the end of the year.
It will boast 20 check-in desks, new executive lounges, more spacious arrival and departure areas and shopping and retail units.
Additional car parking, new aircraft and runway facilities and improved road access are also being built.
Funding will come from the airport’s owner and aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace.
Bombardier vice-president and general manager Ken Brundle said the new terminal will cater for projected increases in air travel to Northern Ireland if peace in the region is maintained.
He said: “It will be capable of catering for the gradual growth in air travel which we foresee over the next 10 years, particularly as political and economic progress are achieved.”
Last financial year, Belfast City handled 1.3m passengers. The numbers represent 45% of traffic to the UK from Northern Ireland, with the rest at neighbouring Belfast International.
Growth will come from increases to the 20 destinations currently served in the UK and Ireland.
The major airlines at the airport, Jersey European Airways, Gill Airways and British Airways franchisee carrier British Regional Airlines, are planning to improve capacity to Belfast.
The huge investment from Bombardier appears to kill off proposals to merge Belfast City and Belfast International to provide one airport capable of rivalling Dublin.