A TRAVEL operator is still hoping against hope that the state’s aviation regulator will let him fly hundreds of children and their parents to Lapland to meet Santa Claus this month.

A TRAVEL operator was accused of living in Disneyland if he believed the state’s aviation regulator would let him fly hundreds of children and their parents to Lapland to meet Santa Claus this month.

CHRISTMAS could be cancelled for more than 700 children and their parents as doubts remain over whether a Dublin tour operator will be able to go ahead with its plans to fly them to Lapland to meet Santa Claus later this month.

A TRAVEL company planning tour packages to Lapland and Dubai from next week has asked the Commercial Court to overturn the aviation regulator’s refusal to renew its operator’s licence.

DUBLIN-based tour operator United Travel will start a weekly programme from Dublin to Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates on July 13.

Knock International Airport has announced that passenger numbers increased by 51% to 373,000 in 2004, up from 247,000 the previous year.