We apologise - and we promise there will be no more delays. This is the message from Carlisle Airport owner Stobart Group.

Two days ago Stobart announced that the first scheduled commercial flights from Carlisle - due to begin next Monday - had been put back until September 3 because of a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Kate Willard, head of corporate projects for Stobart Group, has assured travellers that flights will begin that day, and apologised to those inconvenienced by the three-month hold-up.

Ms Willard said: "There are a lot of disappointed people - we can't get away from that. People have had family gatherings, business meetings, all sorts of things planned.

"But we will open on September 3. We will have those air traffic controllers in. We will be giving Cumbria the airport it deserves."

Stobart Group had blamed the delay on a "growing global shortage of qualified air traffic control staff available to meet training and regulatory deadlines".

Ms Willard said some progress had been made with recruitment but this could not be completed quickly enough. The airport's existing air traffic controllers also have to undergo additional training.

She said: "There will be four flights a day spread over 12 hours so the shift patterns are quite complicated. We need a roster of six air traffic controllers.

"We have three here already. The issue is the type of validation. The type they have now is different to the type they'll need for daily inbound and outbound services.

"We've identified some of the extra three. We're already getting them in place. It's getting them to Cumbria, getting them validated and ready. It was always going to be a challenge but we thought we would be able to bring those people in and get those rosters together.

"Nobody could have worked harder to try and sort those rosters. People have been working through the night, through weekends, to try and get this over the line. That doesn't diminish the impact on our customers.

"What was great to see was the way Loganair [the airport's airline] responded. As soon as that decision was made, customers were contacted. Loganair have been working round the clock to make sure people can make alternative arrangements or get refunded."

When asked why the hold-up was announced just six days before scheduled daily flights to London Southend, Dublin and Belfast City were due to begin, Ms Willard said: "As soon as it became clear we couldn't get the roster in place, we announced it.

"Everything else was ready. It is frustrating to be thwarted by a skills shortage. We've been advertising everywhere. So far about 30 people have been taken on in other roles, the majority of them local. It was just the air traffic control.

"Rather than push it back a couple of weeks we want to make absolutely sure this issue doesn't trip us up again."

Scheduled flights from Carlisle have been promised for decades. Ms Willard said she accepts that this latest delay will fuel scepticism about the airport ever being ready for takeoff.

"I get that. And I don't think it's unreasonable because this airport has been so long in the making. But Stobart Group is committed to this project. This project is going to happen. We've already invested £12m in building it. Ticket sales have been great.

"I'm really sorry that people won't get the flights they were going to get. All we can do is keep going forward and get this service started on September 3. I'm not going to say to people 'We've got a second delay.' September 3 will happen."