TBI, owner of Belfast International Airport, says it is concentrating on increasing the number of budget airline flights from the airport this year, after annual results showed low-fare travel was driving revenues.
Profits at the airport for the 12 months to the end of March fell £5.6 million (€7 million) to £10 million.
Passenger numbers across all six TBI airports, including Luton and Cardiff, were static at 3.7 million.
Breakdown for numbers in Belfast were not provided. Passengers for the first two months of the new financial year climbed 23 per cent over 2002, although growth in Belfast was slowest at 10 per cent.
TBI is in talks with a number of cut-price carriers - it declined to identify which - and hopes to open new routes from Belfast International over coming months, finance director Ms Caroline Price told The Irish Times.
Three budget airlines currently fly out of Belfast: EasyJet, BMI Baby and Mytravellite.
The company said the relative dominance of budget carriers at Cardiff and Belfast had protected it from the air travel slump caused by events such as the US terror attacks and the Iraq war.
Group operating profit climbed marginally to £23.6 million (€33.5 million) from £23.4 million. Pre-tax profits fell to £10.2 million (€14 million) from £16.5 million a year earlier.
TBI said 2002-03 had been another very challenging year for the company and the aviation industry.
While not being immune from the general downturn in air travel, TBI saw the number of passengers travelling from its owned or managed airports marginally increase in 2003, which it said was "remarkable in the circumstances".
The company attributed that to the limited presence of full- service airlines and long-haul services at its airports, which had "borne the brunt" of the general decrease in passengers.
Instead, the largest airline customers of the group's four European airports were budget or lowcost airlines, which had seen significant increases in passenger numbers, it said.
TBI chief executive Mr Keith Brooks said: "In a tough environment for the market as a whole and the air transport sector in particular, TBI has again demonstrated its resilience.
"TBI enters the current year well positioned to capitalise on the growth forecast for low-cost travel."
In addition to its airports in the UK and Sweden, TBI owns Sanford in Florida and airports in Bolivia.
The group started as a property development firm in Swansea and became fully listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1994. - (Additional reporting PA)
