Kiss Air insists it is on course despite confusion over licence

The former Virgin Atlantic executive who is planning to launch a new scheduled airline from Heathrow insisted yesterday that he was on course to begin services this April despite confusion over regulatory clearance for the venture.

The former Virgin Atlantic executive who is planning to launch a new scheduled airline from Heathrow insisted yesterday that he was on course to begin services this April despite confusion over regulatory clearance for the venture.

Jim Welch, the founder of Kiss Air, said he intended to launch one and possibly two routes to European destinations using two Boeing 737 jets. Mr Welch said he had "substantial" funding from an unnamed City financier and sufficient slots at Heathrow to begin operating one round-service a day four times a week.

The Civil Aviation Authority repeated yesterday that it had no record of an air operator's certificate being applied for in the name of Kiss Air and said it would take months to issue one. However, Mr Welch said: "As far as I am aware we have applied for an air operator's licence."

Mr Welch would not disclose the identity of his financial backer or the amount raised. Nor would he say which destinations Kiss Air planned to serve, although its website says it intends to launch routes to France and Italy.

He said Kiss Air would be a "full-service" airline, not a low-cost, no-frills operator such as Ryanair or easyJet. Ground handling for freight customers and passengers would be provided by the Italian airline Alitalia. Mr Welch said he had obtained the slots at Heathrow at the IATA slots conference in Atlanta last November.

Kiss Air advertised a week ago for pilots, first officers, cabin crew and engineers. Mr Welch said that it had since received more than 200 applications for the posts.

He maintained that Kiss Air would be able to compete with established carriers at Heathrow such as British Airways, British Midland and foreign flag-carriers. "There is no other British carrier operating from Terminal 2. I do think we have a chance of competing on an equal footing although there would be no point operating to somewhere like Paris where there is a lot of competition."

Mr Welch, 55, left Virgin Atlantic in 1993. Since then he said he had worked as a consultant in the Gulf and elsewhere helping start-up carriers to begin operations.