The air service between Shoreham and Le Touquet has been suspended after only six weeks because of a shortage of aircraft engineers.

No date has been given for the resumption of flights to the French resort.

The company has confirmed it is now having a re-think on whether it will continue operating from Shoreham.

Several other small airlines have tried to operate services to the Continent and Channel Islands from the airport and failed.

The latest attempt at a scheduled service from the airport was by Lydd-based Sky-Trek.

In two weeks Sky-Trek will decide whether or not to continue with the service which operated from Shoreham to Lydd before going on to France.

The daily service to the French resort, which started on June 2, has so far carried 90 fare paying passengers on 16 flights out of Shoreham, an average of five per flight on the 16-seater plane.

A Sky-Trek spokesman said: "We are not disappointed by these numbers. Most of the passengers have returned to Shoreham so you are talking about 180 passengers in and out of the airport on the Shoreham leg.

"Of course, many more joined for the Lydd-Le Touquet leg.

"It takes time for an aircraft route to get established and we were on our way. If it is possible to continue we will. We will not close the route because of poor passenger numbers."

Regular services out of Shoreham were suspended two weeks ago because of the difficulties in maintaining the aircraft.

Sky-Trek flew a 16- seater Britten-Norman Trislander on the route with return tickets priced between £99.50 and £129.50p The spokesman said: "The suspension of services is due to problems with our engineering supplier, which is based at Lydd Airport.

"Despite sustained efforts to recruit staff, we have been unable to secure the services of the highly qualified maintenance engineers needed."

There have been no problems on any of the flights from Shoreham to Lydd and then across the Channel to Le Touquet. The total journey takes about an hour.

The suspension is a blow to Shoreham Airport, which had hoped the service would be the start of more scheduled flights from Sussex to European towns and city capitals.

Airport manager John Haffenden said: "Sky-Trek has done the sensible thing.

"If they cannot get the staff to maintain the aircraft to the 100 per cent standards required, then they are not going to fly them. It shows they are a highly responsible aircraft operator.

"They have sunk an awful lot of money into this service. Judging by the amount of inquiries, there is a demand for this service.

"Once these problems have been sorted out, I am confident the service can resume.

"There is a national and international shortage of skilled engineers which is affecting all airlines."