THE Belfast aerospace company Shorts has dropped plans to sell Belfast City Airport. It has decided instead to invest £7 million in upgrading facilities, stretched by rapid growth in passenger numbers.

In April last year, Shorts announced it had agreed to sell the airport to a local business consortium, Sarcon Diamond, for around £24 million. The company said it was part of a strategy to concentrate its efforts on its core business. But the deal fell through and a subsequent £28 million bid by Belfast International Airport, described by the City Airport as "unwelcome", was ruled out by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

Within the past few months other offers, including bids from Mercury Asset Management and a business consortium believed to be led by IDB chairman, Mr John McGuckian, failed to meet the company's requirements. Shorts then took the airport off the market.