Exeter airport had just nine passengers in May

Just 9 travellers handed by Exeter airport in Could in accordance to calamitous figures which present the depths of the journey disaster gripping Britain.

Traveller figures plunged from just about a hundred,000 a year earlier, airport bosses exposed in proof to East Devon Council as they sought a bailout.

There were still ninety nine.5pc fewer people in July than past year and the airport faces a £620,000 invoice for business enterprise rates.

East Devon Council has handed a assist offer which will allow £180,000 of the bill to be paid out around the following three a long time – the optimum allowed less than EU state aid policies.

The slump has been reflected throughout Britain including at massive hub airports this kind of as Heathrow, forcing airways and relevant corporations to lay off tens of hundreds of staff members in a fight to survive as a golden age for air journey arrived to crashing halt.

All round, passenger figures at UK airports could plunge by 40pc year on year, in accordance to Airways UK’s forecasts for the 12 months to July 2021.

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

It is a remarkable tumble from grace right after 1m travellers utilized the web page in a 12-month interval for initial time in 2019.