Just a few weeks ago, Air Alderney announced that it intended to start direct flights between the two islands from February.
However, Air Alderney chairman Danny Brem-Wilson has said it will take at least three to four months to apply for new route licences. The States of Alderney have ruled that licences that were granted two years ago are now invalid and that the company needs to re-apply.
States of Alderney chief executive Andrew Muter said: ‘The recent air route licence applications made by Air Alderney are made on the basis of specific aircraft and a different air operator certificate.
‘The appropriate due diligence is now being carried out before the air route licence applications are considered by the Air Transport Route Licensing Board.’
Mr Brem-Wilson has applied for licences for passenger and cargo services to Jersey as well as Lee-on-Solent and Cherbourg, and a cargo licence for Guernsey.
Air Alderney was issued a permit to operate a passenger and freight service to Jersey and a service to Guernsey by the Alderney Air Transport Licensing Board in March 2018.
The application was made to operate a helicopter on those routes. The company is in the process of acquiring two Islander aircraft to work the route.
Mr Brem-Wilson said he was disappointed that the start date would now be delayed and queried whether the States had acted properly by not sending him a letter to say that the route licences he had previously been granted were no longer active.
He said: ‘The States have asked us to do another application for the routes, so it’s going to drag the process out by three to four months.
‘If it wasn’t for that we could start tomorrow. We’ve set up an office at the Flying Club in Jersey. We’ve asked for both fixed-wing, to use the Islanders, and a helicopter as aircraft listed on the licence.’
