The small-scale regular UK service between Blackpool Airport and London Biggin Hill has been grounded. The London Borough of Bromley, as Biggin Hill’s landlord, served notice that it should be stopped immediately and the last flight departed London on October 4.

The service was operated with a 19-seat Jetstream 31 and was set up by Platinum Air following disruption to train services following a major rail crash in the UK.

Airport director Peter Lonergan commented: “The Blackpool service worked so well because it was on a sustainable scale with passengers being met by a small coach and taken to catch a regular train service into central London or elsewhere locally.

“Both Blackpool Airport and the Council have invested in the promotion of the service and it was an important facet to economic regeneration plans in the North West.”

The Council disputed the airport’s right to operate such regular operations, querying a defining user clause in the lease that it granted the operator in 1994.

The airport management’s view is that such services are vital to the sustainable future of the airport. It has submitted numerous business plans to the Council outlining how vital regular income is to safeguard continuing investment in the ageing airport infrastructure. Current aviation activity actually makes a loss of some £500,000 per year, reports Biggin Hill.

The airport has petitioned for Leave to Appeal the judgement by the Court of Appeal, which says that such regular business services do not fall within the definition of “business aviation” use.

In the meantime, Platinum Air is now considering using Luton Airport instead for the Blackpool service and the Paris service that it planned for launch in the autumn.