Aer Lingus, which launches its new route to London City Airport today, says it has received more than 5,000 advance bookings since it began advertising the timetable two weeks ago. Meanwhile, CityJet, which also flies to the same airport says it expects a ruling on its complaint against Aer Lingus from the Competition Authority within a fortnight.

However, the company has warned that it will consider taking a High Court action to stop Aer Lingus flying times which it says are too close to CityJet's, if the authority does not act on the complaint.

CityJet has accused Aer Lingus of abusing a dominant position. Aer Lingus's first flight from Dublin each morning will be within five minutes of the CityJet flight. Each airline is flying the route four times per day and there are 15-20 minutes separating the majority of flights, according to CitjJet's chief executive Mr Pat Byrne.

Mr Byrne says Aer Lingus is trying to force CityJet off the London City route which it has been flying for the past six years. The claim is rejected by Aer Lingus.

Mr Byrne says the State airline is abusing a dominant position - it has 38 per cent of all London traffic - by leasing in planes to fly the route and engaging in what amounts to a "predatory pricing action". He contends that Aer Lingus is "shadowing" the CityJet schedule to divide the CityJet traffic between the two airlines. As Aer Lingus has more money and can afford to run it at a loss for some time, this could force CityJet off the route, he says.

Mr Byrne argued that he was in favour of competition, but accused Aer Lingus of using taxpayer's money to try to force his airline off the route, which generates about £10 million in annual revenue for CityJet.

Mr Byrne said he hoped the Competition Authority would direct Aer Lingus to modify its route times. This, he said, would give customers greater choice.

An Aer Lingus spokesman said the move by his airline was pro-competitive and pro-consumer. "We are answering a demand from our customers," he said.

The spokesman added that more than 5,000 bookings had been received for flights on the route, for which advertising had begun just over two weeks ago. Aer Lingus believes that future growth lies in business passenger traffic which is set to rise further over the next three years, according to its research. The company is due to unveil its future strategy for growing traffic from the Republic's three airports today.

London City Airport is now seen as part of the plan to pitch at the business and premium price paying leisure passenger. The airport, which is owned by financier Mr Dermot Desmond, is said to be one of the most expensive airports in Europe to fly into. The company increased its throughput of passengers from 600,000 to more than 1.3 million between 1995 and 1998.

Last week, it was announced that the airport had raised £100 million (€156 million) through a bond issue of 7.886 per cent secured notes due in 2021. The monies will be used for future international airport investment opportunities.