JACK WALKER'S airline has come to the rescue of stranded Manchester United fans.

Just days after United sent Rovers down, Jersey European Airways has launched special flights for Reds unable to reach Barcelona for the European cup final.

The firm has organised a special £149 fare between Birmingham and the southern French city of Toulouse which is 160 miles from Barcelona.

It is also arranging to help fans hire cars for the final leg of their journey.

Jersey European Airways is planning to float on the stock market with a price tag of around £100 million. The firm was due to go public last summer but a collapse in the stock market led to it being shelved.

Now the market has recovered bosses are again looking at the flotation which could take place later this year.

Jack uses the airline on his regular trips from his Jersey home to Lancashire. The flotation would realise a paper profit on original investment in the airline of tens of millions of pounds.

Only two years ago the airline was valued at £40 million when the Sunday Times list of UK's richest people estimated Jack's fortune at £500 million.

The airline, which was taken over 16 years ago, has grown to be one of the biggest in the UK with a fleet of 22 aircraft carrying more than 1.5 million passengers a year.

The airline was launched in 1979 and in 1983 was taken over by the Walkersteel Group, which already owned Blackpool-based charter airline Spacegrand, in a seven figure deal.

The two airlines ran separately for a time until they were combined within the Walker Aviation group in 1985.

JEA flies to 15 UK and four European destinations and profits before tax for the 1996/97 financial year were £3.4 million on a turnover of almost £95 million.

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