Stansted boss John Stent will be asking Continental Airlines to return to the airport.
Continental shut down its Stansted to New York service in the wake of September 11. In the next three months, Mr Stent, Stansted's managing director, will ask the American airline to come back.
Essex passengers fed up with driving around the M25 to Heathrow or Gatwick will be hoping for a positive reply.
Stansted also lost services operated by Lufthansa and SAS. The three would have attracted about 600,000 passengers a year.
"When the time feels right - which I expect to be in three to four months - I will re-open discussions with Continental to see whether they feel confident enough about the future to fly to Stansted again," said Mr Stent.
He is upbeat about Stansted's future and says the vacuum left by the three airlines has been filled by its three low-cost carriers.
He said: "All three carriers are positive and have done a good job and that's good for the airport and for the community in offering more jobs."
Published Tuesday, February 19, 2002
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