PETER Bath, chairman of Bournemouth-based holiday airline Palmair which operates two Boeing 737s chartered from European Aviation, said he was sad to learn of the job losses.

Mr Bath, who was at the airport on Thursday morning to give his customary personal send-off to passengers aboard the scheduled Palmair flight to the Canary Islands, stressed that the crisis at European would not affect his company's operations.

"The Palmair European Boeing 737 left today on schedule with a full load of 124 passengers destined for Lanzarote," he said.

"As far as we are concerned we are still flying European."

He said Palmair had previously bailed out the troubled charter firm (in 2002), and the Bath family had been involved, along with other unnamed investors, in an abortive deal to acquire European Aviation Air Charter and its fleet of aircraft.

In a statement issued to the Daily Echo he said: "The managing director of European Aviation Air Charter advised Peter Bath, whose company chartered aircraft from EAAC for their successful Palmair operation, that he needed an immediate injection of cash to pay for aviation fuel for Palmair flights the following day.

"This was made available in the interests of Palmair passengers and to protect the jobs of staff employed by EAAC in the short term. After considerable discussion the Bath family, together with other potential investors, entered into an agreement to acquire the airline, subject to the satisfaction of a number of complex conditions.

"These conditions were never satisfied and therefore the transaction could not be completed.

"The decision to reduce the size of the workforce on Wednesday was made by the directors of EAAC and we feel very sad for all the staff affected."