BUDGET airline Flyglobespan is planning to launch new routes out for Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport, the Daily Post can reveal.

But despite insisting its controversial JLA-New York service will resume in the spring, no timetable has yet been announced, even though other transatlantic routes operated by the Scottish firm have gone on sale.

The final Liverpool to New York flight for the winter is due to take off on Wednesday afternoon. When Flyglobespan launched the route in May it had planned to operate the service all year round, but ditched that idea when tickets sales failed to meet expectations.

The route, for which a 10-year-old Boeing 757 was leased from Icelandair, had been dogged by delays and cancellations, often caused by technical problems, although there has never been any suggestion it was not safe to fly in.

That led to a fall in passenger numbers, and Civil Aviation Authority figures for the Liverpool to New York route suggest as few as 20 people per flight were using the route in either direction.

The company has already insisted it will relaunch the service next spring, but has now said it intends to begin other new services from JLA.

In the past, it has tried services to Tenerife and Prague, and this year also operated a Toronto route, none of which are now in operation.

However, none of the services planned for next year will use the aircraft leased from Icelandair.

A spokesman for Flyglobespan said: “The successful summer season service between Liverpool and New York and our associated aircraft leasing agreement with Iceland Air ceases on October 31.

“We thank our valued passengers, and look forward to introducing them to new travel opportunities in 2008/9.”

The company declined to indicate which routes it would trying out next year, although has announced it is begin flying into Dubrovnik in Croatia from Scottish airports, and a service to Paphos in Cyprus from Durham Tees-Valley Airport.

In recent weeks, passengers travelling between Liverpool and New York have been dealt a further blow after the airline had an important safety licence suspended.

The Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards (ETOPS) licence allows twin-engined aeroplanes, such as the 757 used on the New York route and the smaller 737 it has been replaced with, to travel a more direct route across the Atlantic.

Without it, planes must never be more than one hour away from an airport, which has meant the Liverpool to JFK service taking a longer route.

davidhiggerson