Cityjet has lodged a complaint against Aer Lingus with the Competition Authority, accusing the State-owned airline of "a blatant, undisguised act of bullying of enormous proportions". Aer Lingus last night refuted the charge, saying that what CityJet wanted was to avoid having to compete for passengers.

CityJet, in partnership with Jersey European, operates the Dublin-London City route. Until now, no other airline has offered service on the route. Aer Lingus has indicated that from November 1st, it intends to fly four flights in each direction each day.

CityJet's chief executive, Mr Pat Byrne, said yesterday Aer Lingus had deliberately chosen flight times very close to those currently operated by his airline.

He said Aer Lingus planned to split the passenger base and run the route at a loss, forcing CityJet and Jersey to do the same.

"We are not saying we don't want Aer Lingus on the route - we do, but on a contributing basis," he said. "If we do it like this, both of us will be running at a serious loss."

"They want to see us off the route, then sit on it," Mr Byrne said. Mr Jim French, Jersey's chief operating officer, said Aer Lingus would have to lease extra planes to service the route, and questioned whether the larger airline had "an addiction to power and control". He said there was "no way" his airline could sustain a loss-making service for a year.

But Aer Lingus issued a firm rejection of the accusations, saying that it planned to service the route purely because there was passenger demand for it.

"We have examined it, and we believe we will make money on this route. We applied for slots to meet the demand - it would be crazy to ask for slots where there was no demand," the spokesman added. The company would "dismiss absolutely" the allegation it was bullying a smaller rival.