Blackpool's Irish Sea Routes
 

From today's Blackpool Gazette website:

"Published: Friday, 1 February 2002, 01:27 PM GMT. .Blackpool air link to Irish Sea on again

BLACKPOOL Airport bosses today . .announced the new operator who will take over its Irish Sea flights. Helicentre boss Geoff Hopkins, Liverpool-based Keenair and Fylde businessman Peter Whitehead have joined forces to launch an airline calledFlykeen from the resort to the Isle of Man. Twin-engined Bandeirante aircraft will begin flights next Monday.

Services across the Irish Sea to the island and to Belfast and Dublin were suspended last November after airline Platinum Air 2000 went into receivership with debts of £2.5m. . .Flights to the Isle of Man were immediately resumed on a temporary basis using aircraft chartered from Keenair which will now take over the services full-time.

Platinum Air's demise had come just 10 months after the collapse of the previous Irish Sea operator Comed Aviation."

These routes have been a bit of a graveyard for several previous operators. The last real success here was probably Jack Walker's Spacegrand Aviation which formed the springboard for his takeover of the original Jersey European.

Good luck and best wishes to the new operation. They will no doubt have their hard hats on to deflect the toys being flung from one or two prams to be found around Squires Gate! :)

In the mean time I am off t'pub. Cheers!. .ND