The British government has confirmed that a new contract for an airline to operate public service route between the City of Derry in Northern Ireland and London Stansted airport should be signed before the end of the week.
The Transport Minister Nusrat Ghani told MPs on Monday the government "expects services to resume swiftly". Emergency talks started almost immediately after flybmi ceased all operations on Saturday evening. "The government recognises the importance of maintaining regional connectivity, that is why we fund a public service route from Derry/Londonderry to London which was recently extended from the 1 April 2019 for a further two years," Ghani told MPs.
Ghani said the local council had "the power to transfer the public service obligation contract to another airline for up to seven months to allow for a new procurement process to be conducted. - Subject to due diligence we expect the council to sign contracts and appoint an airline later this week and we are expecting services to resume swiftly," she said.