Plymouth City Airport to close in December

Plymouth City Airport is set to close at the end of the year - because financial losses have made its operation 'commercially unviable'.

The airport's owner has warned that it faces losses of more than £1 million if it carries on past December.

Only around 100 passengers a day use the airport, jetting out to destinations including Bristol, Cork, Dublin, Glasgow, Guernsey, Jersey, Leeds/Bradford and Manchester.

Owner Sutton Harbour Group sold off Air Southwest last year and the regional carrier's new owner scrapped flights from Plymouth and Newquay to Gatwick.

Sutton Harbour chief executive Nigel Godefroy told Travel Weekly: 'During our 11-year involvement with Plymouth City Airport we have done everything in our power to make it a success, even launching our own regional airline.

'So this has been an incredibly difficult decision given the efforts by so many, including our own staff, to give the airport a future.

'We have always fought for Plymouth's air links and sought to do our best for the city and its people, our employees and shareholders, but the usage of the airport simply does not support the high cost of operation.

'We have worked long and hard with Plymouth City Council and the Chamber of Commerce to try to identify a possible long term solution for the airport because we all recognise its importance to the city.

'Unfortunately, between us we have not been able to find a solution which overcomes the fundamental problem that Plymouth City Airport, like many regional airports in the current environment, is unviable as a commercial enterprise.'

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