THE man behind plans for a new North-East airline claimed last night he had secured £10m of investment – but admitted he could not give a definite date when services would begin.

Senior managers at Excelsis Airways decided to go public after The Northern Echo revealed how the airline was the idea of Victor Bassey, a Nigerian businessman living in a terraced house in Middlesbrough.

The paper also revealed how parts of the airline’s website had been copied from a Canadian carrier’s site and the company’s Darlington headquarters was empty.

In May, Excelsis announced plans for three flights a day from Durham Tees Valley to London City Airport, and said passengers would be able to book seats from September 19.

The company said last night it would not be taking bookings next month.

Instead, it hopes to be flying – using an aircraft leased from another airline – by the end of the year.

Officials also cast doubt on plans to fly from Durham Tees Valley Airport, saying they had not ruled out using other airports in the North, or even Scotland.

Mr Bassey and his team claimed they had £10m in funding – but declined to name the backers, other than to say the money came from Europe and the UK.

They also admitted many of the operational details, including the airline’s operating licence and routes, had yet to be worked out.

And although the company has spoken to London City Airport, nothing has been formally agreed with it or any other airport.

Durham Tees Valley (DTV) officials have yet to meet the airline’s full senior management team.

At a meeting yesterday, the press were introduced to Excelsis Airways’ management team – chief executive Andreas Blass; chief commercial officer Keith Watson, who is a former head of sales and marketing at Eastern Airways; and flight operations director Andrew Bray, who was with the RAF for more than 20 years and has worked as operations director for Middle East charter service Royal Jet.

Mr Blass, who is a former chief executive officers at Islas Airways and was a member of the start-up team at Hapag-Lloyd Express, said the secrecy surrounding the airline was due to commercial sensitivity because the project was at a vulnerable stage.

He said: “We are still reviewing our business plan. We need to polish many details.”

Excelsis hopes to obtain a plane under a so-called “wet lease”, in which a company provides an aircraft, one or more crews, maintenance and insurance (which usually includes the plane’s airframe and third-party liability).

The plane is charged per hour and Excelsis must guarantee to pay for a set number of hours a month. The firm will also have to provide fuel, pay landing and storage fees, flight charges and local taxes.

Mr Blass said: “We have a commitment for £10m startup financing. We cannot, at this moment, reveal the investment and capital risk investments behind that simply because of strategic reasons.”

He said the airline was minded to favour the Durham Tees Valley to London City airport link.

“Our strategy is a northsouth link – it does not necessarily commit itself to DTV,”

he said. “We still have to talk to both Durham and London City airports. I am absolutely optimistic.”

Mr Bassey, who has been responsible for securing much of the funding commitments, said the airline hoped to be in operation by the end of the year.

A spokesman for Durham Tees Valley Airport said: “We look forward to further discussions with the senior management team now it has been appointed.”