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29th May 2018
05:18pm BST
You might remember that Loganair announced a significant partnership with Stobart Group in February which would see the airline operating from the newly-renamed Carlisle Lake District Airport (CLDA) to Dublin on a daily basis.
Loganair were set to operate eight flights per-day across the working week and a total of 12 at weekends, connecting Cumbria and the Lake District, which receives 45 million visitors per year, to the three destinations.
Dublin would have a daily service each day of the week and Belfast City would also be served daily, excluding Saturday.
However, they have announced that the commencement of the scheduled air services from Carlisle - which were planned to start on Monday 4 June - have been postponed until Monday 3 September.
The growing global shortage of qualified air traffic control staff available to meet training and regulatory deadlines has resulted in the airport being unable to open for commercial air services in time to proceed with the planned 4 June launch date.
Kate Willard, Head of Corporate Projects for Stobart Group, said: “It is with enormous regret that we must advise that the launch of scheduled services from Carlisle Lake District Airport has been delayed.
“This major project to launch air services from a new airport relies not only on the airport’s infrastructure being complete but also on a full complement of essential operational staff being in place.
“Regrettably, changing circumstances around staffing means that this cannot be completed in time for the airport to receive scheduled flights as planned on 4 June, despite every possible human effort being made."
Carlisle Lake District Airport will still open for general aviation traffic, requiring a lesser level of air traffic control provision than that required to support scheduled services.
Loganair’s Managing Director Jonathan Hinkles said: “Together with our partners, Stobart Aviation, we reluctantly had to take the decision to delay the launch of flights to London Southend, Dublin and Belfast City.
We've never thought about going to Carlisle before this but if it's good enough for a daily service, it must be worth the visit.
Now to just wait another few months to actually make the flight...
If you have booked a flight to Carlisle for June to August, you can find more information about what to do here.
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