The Irish in Britain, including those of Irish descent, make up a significant part of the UK population. Here, you will find news, entertainment, events, sports and features from the local Irish Post newspaper.

British Airways would love to revive its service from Belfast to London Heathrow the airline’s chief executive officer announced last week.

Willie Walsh told the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce that everything hinged on the proposal for a third runway at Heathrow.

Mr Walsh, who formerly ran Aer Lingus, said he knew that many people in the business community in the North of Ireland wanted BA to restore its Aldergrove to Heathrow service.

The Belfast Shuttle was axed in 2001 a decision that the company blamed on 9/11. The Belfast slots at Heathrow were then re-allocated to long-haul routes.

Referring to the decision to suspend the route Mr Walsh said: “It was a difficult decision at the time.

“The route remains one that we would consider reviving if infrastructure constraints allowed us to.

“The blunt truth is that there are not enough runway slots at Heathrow to support this kind of regional service. We would love to change this situation and are pressing the government very hard to increase runway capacity.”

According to Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP MP, Aer Lingus is currently weighing up the relative merits of Belfast International and Birmingham International.

Meanwhile, Ryanair has said it is considering starting a service bet-ween Aldergrove and Shannon in the Republic.