Belfast City Airport in talks with airlines to fill routes vacated by FlyBe

Brian Ambrose insisted there was no threat to the future of the airport and no redundancy plans, despite 77% of its routes being operated by Flybe and two-thirds of its passengers using the administration-hit carrier.

Mr Ambrose told the PA news agency talks had been ongoing with other airlines in recent weeks and some were in contact within hours of the collapse on Tuesday night to set up meetings about taking over the routes.

He said there was interest from operators in all the vacated routes, with multiple airlines vying to take over the busier ones.

Almost all Flybe passengers noted the advice not to turn up to the airport on Wednesday morning.

The terminal, which sits beside Belfast harbour, was very quiet throughout the morning, with the Flybe check-in desks empty.

Mr Ambrose insisted Belfast City still had a bright future.

“We have known for some time that Flybe have had difficulty,” he told PA.

“During that time our priority was to support our airline partner but, in parallel, we have been speaking to other airlines. As of now, we have interest in all of the routes.

“Some of the larger routes we have interest from multiple airlines, so I am confident that in the coming days and weeks we will be making announcements on the back-fill of those routes.”

Mr Ambrose said coronavirus may complicate efforts to get the routes operating again in the short term.

He added: “We can’t be definite (on timelines) but the fact is we have a product for which there is a demand.