A NEW Irish airline has had to temporarily stop selling tickets for planned new routes to Britain because they do not have a licence.
Aer Southeast stopped selling flights from Waterford Airport after the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) found it has yet to apply for a tour operator’s licence.
In a statement, the CAR said: "As soon as the Commission became aware that Aer Southeast intended to arrange and offer for sale a new service, we issued a letter to Aer Southeast to cease trading and provided the company with the relevant application forms to apply for a Tour Operator Licence.
“As yet, the CAR has not received an application from the company for a licence.”
Aer Southeast announced last week that it would fly from Waterford to London Luton, Manchester and Birmingham from Monday, July 24.
There were to be six flights a week to the British capital, three flights to Manchester and three flights to Birmingham.
We hope to have our booking facility restored in the coming days. Flights from @WATairport to @LDNLutonAirport , @manairport & @bhx_official
— Aer Southeast IRL (@AerSoutheastIRL) June 26, 2017
The new airline is assuring anyone who already purchased tickets that their money is safe.
“We wish to firstly thank all those who have already booked flights with us to the UK and assure them that their money is secure,” an Aer Southeast spokesperson told The Irish Post.
“Secondly, we wish to assure them that we will be doing everything possible to ensure that we are in a position to begin our scheduled flights as already announced.
“We also hope to have our website booking facility restored in the coming days.”
Waterford Airport lost its previous commercial service when Belgian airline VLM went bankrupt and ceased operating last year.
The airport had previously struggled to find replacement services – partly due to the shortness of its runway length.
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