British Airways yesterday announced plans to double the size of its Belfast telephone sales centre with the creation of 65 new jobs over the next two years.

The Belfast centre, which employs 52 people, is being expanded to cope with an anticipated 30 per cent growth in calls over the next few years. The centre currently handles 160,000 calls per week. The Industrial Development Board of Northern Ireland has offered the company selective financial assistance of £512,850 towards initial capital costs of £553,000.