Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson says his company, Cardiff Aviation, is in discussions with the Civil Aviation Authority about setting up a new airline.

"Subject to approvals, we'll be in the air within the next 50 days," Dickinson tells The Telegraph. "Clearly that fits with the maintenance — both operations need each other."

In the spring of 2012, Dickinson launched Cardiff Aviation as a major commercial airline maintenance repair and overhaul operation in South Wales. The company is based at the Twin Peaks hangar at St. Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Cardiff’s 2013 plan for the new airline venture is to start with three private jets, before sourcing some regional jets, and then working towards some larger, full passenger jets.

“The next stage is rebuilding Astraeus, but with proper governance. The market is ripe for an outsourcing airline that provides extra capacity,” he says. “We want to provide British jobs, British pilots and British-operated aircraft.”

A licensed pilot, Dickinson has flown for commercial airlines in addition to flying Maiden around the world in the band‘s customized Boeing 757 called Ed Force One.

This past week, Dickinson and Iron Maiden launched the European leg of their “Maiden England” tour (see video of opening night here), a continuation of the trek which played across North America last year.

The stage show closely mirrors, in terms of production and content, the original 1988 concert video of the same name – reissued on DVD this year - shot on the “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" tour.