The Green Party has warned that a call on the Minister of the Environment to lift the limit on the number of passengers using the George Best Belfast City Airport by the airports Chief Executive could result in bigger and noisier planes being flown from the airport.

The airport is currently restricted by a planning agreement limiting the number of seats for sale to two million; however airport management claims it has the capacity to transport four million passengers without significantly increasing the number of flights.

Green Party spokesperson Steven Agnew believes that this is only achievable by increasing the use of larger and nosier planes: “The only way the airport can service more passengers without significantly increasing the number of flights is by using bigger planes, which means more noise and even more disruption for those residents who live near the airport and under the flight paths.  The planning agreement governing the airport’s activity has already been changed a number of times, with no regard to the wishes of local residents.  It will be interesting to see if the Environment Minister supports the interests of local residents or if he caves in to the airport’s profit driven demands.”

Responding to a request by the airport’s management for an urgent meeting with the Environment Minister Edwin Poots, Mr. Agnew said: “If the Minister meets with representatives from the airport then he must also meet with local residents who are equally frustrated at his failed to make a decision on the planning application to extend the runway.  The delay would certainly suggest that Minister Poots doesn’t know what to do on this issue and therefore I would suggest that he hold a public enquiry so that all view points can be heard.”