RUMOURS that the council plans to sell off Blackpool Airport were fuelled again this week after bosses at Manchester Airport said they would be interested in buying it.

This came in the week when Manchester Airport bought East Midlands and Bournemouth airports for £241 million.

Talking about the purchases, chief executive of Manchester Airport Geoff Muirhead said he would not rule out buying Blackpool.

The rumours concerning the airport were first reported in The Citizen in January 11. The airport is owned by Blackpool Airport Ltd which was set up in 1987, but the council is 100 per cent shareholder and has been subsidising it to cover the yearly loss which runs into hundreds of thousands of pounds. Coun David Owen, chairman of the board at Blackpool Airport, said that the council was not in direct talks with Manchester Airport.

"The council believes the airport is an asset to the town as a whole and over the years it has been an act of faith to subsidise it," he said. "But if we were offered a substantial amount of money to sell it we would have to look at the offer."

AIRPORT bosses were forced to impound the planes of Blackpool-based airline Comed on February 21 because of financial problems.

The airline, which usually has ten flights a day to Dublin, Belfast and the Isle of Man, is believed to owe a large sum of money to the airport. A statement from the airport said another company had agreed to take on the routes from February 25.