Shorts long-term future 'secure'

The investment was announced ahead of Farnborough air show

The investment of more than half a billion pounds in Bombardier Shorts will help secure the Belfast plant's long-term future, a union has said.

It is the biggest single investment in Northern Ireland and will sustain more than 800 jobs.

Bernie Hamilton, of the union Unite, said Bombardier's workers were on the cutting edge of airline manufacturing.

"This gives them a very good chance and a very exciting future," he said.

First Minister Peter Robinson said it would not have happened without devolution.

Mr Robinson said he and the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, had been working on the deal "almost on a daily basis for these past months".

He added: "I just know, without giving away too many of the commercial issues involved, that this simply would not have happened if there had not been devolved institutions in Northern Ireland."

The government has also agreed to provide �52m to the project at Bombardier's east Belfast plant as part of a wider �155m government investment package in the Canadian firm.

Bombardier C-Series Costs US$46.7m each Seats 110 to 130 passengers Expected to enter service in 2013 "Greenest aircraft in its class," Bombardier says Wings manufactured in Belfast

Mr McGuinness said: "The investment will also see the development of state-of-the-art technology as well as developing the manufacturing and engineering skills of our workforce that will benefit our economy for years to come."

Announcing the investment on the eve of the Farnborough air show, Bombardier said greener fuel-efficient technology used in the C-Series would "revolutionise" the 100 to 149 seater market.

The long-running project was dropped two years ago, but the Canadian aerospace firm resurrected it last year amid amid rising fuel costs globally.

Lufthansa has provisionally ordered 30 planes with an option for 30 more.

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