It's not as far fetched as it might at first seem, although Stephen Powell of the Enniskillen-based Amphibious Flying Club said the main obstacle to his plan to begin commercial flying-boat operations next year was the Port of London Authority's unease at mixing boats with planes on the busy Thames.

"If the necessary paperwork weighs as much as the plane then it's not worth flying, " he said.

Instead Powell is considering commercial flights within Ireland "north, south, east and west" and is currently scouting suitable locations for charter and scheduled flights. Lough Neagh, near Belfast; Foynes, on the Shannon estuary and Galway Bay all hosted seaplanes during the golden era of the flying boats in the 1930s and '40s, and Powell is also looking at the lakes and rivers of Ireland's latticework of interconnected inland waterways as possible sites for a service.

"All I need is a ramp, a floating wooden dock and fuel. It's very simple really, " he said. The service will begin with a small Maule aircraft (above) and then a nine-seater Cessna Caravan with a 1,000-mile range when demand picks up.

"One stumbling block when flying from north to south is the security issue, as even today we have to send passenger details to the police 24 hours in advance so that will need investigation on how we can get around that issue."

The as yet unnamed service will be funded by Powell and other Enniskillen-based business men.

Europe's first city centre seaplane service, linking Glasgow to the Scottish west coast, took its maiden flight last week under the banner of Loch Lomond Seaplanes. The company charges �149 ( 220) for a 24-minute flight to Oban and can carry nine passengers.