Budget airline easyJet is to start new routes out of Belfast next year andannounced tonight it was doubling its Belfast-based staff in preparation for theexpansion of services.
Currently it only flies from Belfast to Amsterdam and numerous Britishairports. There has been mounting speculation Northern Ireland will finally geta series of new European destinations to choose from in the new year as easyJettakes delivery of more aircraft .
An extra 24 cabin crew will be recruited this month, bringing to 89 the numberof cabin crew and pilots working from Belfast.
"The next 12 months will see a whole host of new routes to new countries,including from Belfast," said easyJet market manager Ms Judith Steel.
She added: "The crew working in Belfast are easily amongst the best we have.Both they and their new colleagues will play a central role in easyJet'sdevelopment this incoming year.
The announcement of the new jobs came on the back of what the airline calledstrong July results for its routes in and out of Belfast.
The percentage of seats filled rose 4 per cent year on year to 85 per cent , while passengernumbers remained constant.
It said it became the most used airline between Belfast and London, thebusiest of all Northern Ireland routes, taking close to 50 per cent of all traffic.
easyJet claims to now be the biggest carrier on every single route it operatesout of Belfast.
Some of the existing Belfast-based crew are currently on secondment in Paris,helping to set up easyJet's crew base there.