A NORTHERN Ireland property development group has sold Blackpool International Airport to a UK construction company in a £14 million (€17.7 million) deal.

Mar Properties sold a 95 per cent stake in the airport, which it initially purchased as part of a joint venture in 2004 and then bought out completely in 2006, to Balfour Beattys regional and city airports division. The remaining 5 per cent stake in the airport is held by Blackpool Borough Council.

The Lancashire seaside airport provides routes across Ireland, the UK, the Isle of Man and several European destinations. The airport, which lies one mile south of Blackpool, is popular with low-cost carriers including Ryanair and Jet2.

Passenger numbers are expected to grow at the airport to around 500,000 this year, but the airport has the capacity to handle up to two million passengers following a £2 million investment programme completed earlier this year.

Northern Ireland-headquartered Mar Properties is privately owned by Adam Armstrong and Noel Murphy. The company also owns Wolverhampton airport in the UK which is currently a small, general aviation airfield.

Mar Properties is estimated to have a portfolio worth close to £1 billion and is understood to own a considerable amount of prime development land in Northern Ireland.

One of its major deals in the North involved the purchase of a chain of well-known pubs which included the Hillside in Hillsborough and the Lock and Quay and the Stables in Groomsport. Mar Properties is currently involved in a number of joint ventures in Northern Ireland, including a scheme to regenerate Bangor town centre and waterfront known as Queen's Parade, the Castlebawn scheme in Newtonards and a mixed-use scheme on the banks of the river Lagan in Belfast.

The company has developed an extensive retail asset base which includes a number of retail developments in the United Kingdom.

Mar Properties also holds a number of residential assets in Toronto in Canada.