Exeter airport had just nine passengers in May

Just 9 travellers handed through Exeter airport in May perhaps according to calamitous figures which show the depths of the journey disaster gripping Britain.

Traveller quantities plunged from virtually one hundred,000 a year previously, airport bosses unveiled in proof to East Devon Council as they sought a bailout.

There were still ninety nine.5pc fewer website visitors in July than past year and the airport faces a £620,000 monthly bill for organization rates.

East Devon Council has handed a aid package which will allow £180,000 of the bill to be compensated more than the subsequent 3 a long time – the maximum permitted below EU condition aid rules.

The slump has been mirrored across Britain including at enormous hub airports these types of as Heathrow, forcing airways and associated organizations to lay off tens of 1000’s of employees in a fight to survive as a golden age for air journey arrived to crashing halt.

Total, passenger quantities at UK airports could plunge by 40pc year on year, according to Airlines UK’s forecasts for the twelve months to July 2021.

Exeter suffered the double whammy when regional airline Flybe collapsed in March adopted by the pandemic that grounded  planes globally.

It is a extraordinary fall from grace soon after 1m travellers applied the web page in a twelve-thirty day period interval for initially time in 2019.