 Belfast City Airport will benefit from the fund |
A �4m fund to encourage more direct air routes between Northern Ireland and Continental Europe is to be set up by the government. The money will be available to the three airports in the province, Belfast International Airport, City of Derry and Belfast City Airport.
Apart from one service to Amsterdam, the absence of scheduled flights to Europe effectively cuts Northern Ireland off from the rest of the continent.
However, if the airports offer reduced landing fees, subsidised by the government, the situation could be transformed.
Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster on Thursday, Northern Ireland Office Minister Ian Pearson said he hoped it would not only offer people more choice, but would also be good for the local economy.
"What we hope to achieve is to make Northern Ireland a more international region," he said.
"A priority for us is to encourage more tourism here and it is also to support our businesses that want to export more.
"We want to make sure that more people can get to Northern Ireland directly from Continental Europe and vice versa."
It is hoped new routes will be operational by next spring.
In a statement on Thursday, Belfast City airport said it expected to put forward proposals to develop new routes to Paris, Brussels and other European cities.
Belfast International Airport said it was extremely pleased with the development and that passengers would be pleasantly surprised by the routes that would come on offer.
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