£100m for plane contract approved

In April, Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness travelled to Brussels to lobby the European Commission to allow state aid for developing and building part of Bombardier's new C Series aircraft in Belfast.

The Government has now been given the go-ahead by the European Commission to provide £113.7 million in repayable investment for the development of the Canadian firm's composite wings.

The development and manufacture of full-scale composite wings for a new generation of aircraft such as the C-Series will require the development of new cutting-edge technologies which do not yet exist

Arlene Foster

Enterprise Minister

Northern Ireland

The money is part of a £500 million investment at the Belfast plant for the new regional jet, and the move follows a recommendation last week by the Department of the Environment Planning Service that Belfast City Council should back plans for a new 700,000 square foot factory at Bombardier's Airport Road West site, where the advanced composite wings will be manufactured.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said the approval was another step forward for the C-Series programme and the whole aerospace sector in Northern Ireland.

She said: "The development and manufacture of full-scale composite wings for a new generation of aircraft such as the C-Series will require the development of new cutting-edge technologies which do not yet exist. That Bombardier has selected Northern Ireland as the location to undertake such work, is a strong endorsement of the research, development and innovative capabilities in our aerospace sector.

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