Shorts confirms £350m order

The jets will be part made at the east Belfast plant

The parent company of Belfast aerospace firm Shorts has confirmed an order for regional jets worth about £350m.

Bombardier said the order, from a US regional airline, is for a mixture of 70 and 90 seat aeroplanes, which are part-built at the east Belfast factory.

The deal means that some of the options held by Mesa Airlines for new planes have been converted into firm orders.

A dispute at the company over pay and cost-cutting has dragged on for six months.

Negotiations to resolve the dispute are still ongoing between the company and the unions.

Management said there would be no redundancies before the end of March and a controversial new shift is being discussed as part of wider pay negotiations.

Shorts cut 600 jobs last May. The firm said a further 580 posts would go before next April but this was reduced last August to fewer than 100.

Shorts said its programme of cutbacks was in response to what it called "very challenging market conditions".