Comed Aviation has begun its own airline, Comed Aviation Scheduled Services. The project was begun in March last year when the charter company spread its wings with the acquisition of the first of three Embraer Bandeirantes. The twin turboprop began flying routes to Dublin and the Isle of Man from Comed's Blackpool base.\rComed started as a flying school, where Robert Murgatroyd, now managing director, was an instructor. Murgatroyd bought Comed out from its previous owner in 1993, and proceeded to get an AOC for Aztecs and Chieftains to fly to the Isle of Man, and to fly charter. EBAN got in touch with Murgatroyd:\r"Things are going very well now, although we were very unlucky to start with," said Murgatroyd. "We had to put up with a lot of aircraft unserviceability because we were leasing Dutch aircraft - two of our three Bandeirantes are leased. The CAA require heavy checks before they will register an aircraft in this country. \r"I don't think anything in aviation is easy. You have to get through all the red tape and bureaucrats. Once you have achieved that and you have an operating licence and AOC, it's straightforward and plain sailing. We don't fly aircraft with more than 20 seats, so we don't actually need to apply to the CAA for route licences: Apart from any countries that are outside the EEC - and believe it or not, the Isle of Man is!"\rDespite early stress, the new airline is now averaging 1,000 passengers a week, and employs 21 pilots and 26 cabin crew. The three Embraer regional aircraft are configured for 14, 16, and 17 passengers. In June 2000, Comed will be starting a direct flight from Blackpool to Newcastle. Murgatroyd said that the icing on the cake was the besting of a competitor: "Jersey European have been at Blackpool for 10 years, we actually saw them off. That's quite a milestone for us, seeing a big operator go," he said. \rComed is still offering charter services. Said Murgatroyd: "We have got a Navajo and a Chieftain. We rented a second Navajo, and ended up buying that. They got to the wing fatigue limit and had to be sold - they are happily flying in America at this moment in time. It's UK bureaucrats again, they get in the way of flying." \rThe Embraer Bandeirante began production in Brazil 20 years ago. About 1,000 were made, of which 400 are still flying, according to Comed. "They are relatively cheap, compared to something like the Jetstream 31, where you are looking at spending upwards of about £800,000 to own one. You can buy and renovate a Bandeirant for £450,000. They are ideal aircraft for the 20 minute hops we are doing. They can be pretty noisy on take off, but quite pleasant once you're up in the air."