Carlisle Lake District Airport staff face job cuts

The airport's operator had already said job losses looked "inevitable"

More than half the workforce at Carlisle Lake District Airport could lose their jobs due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement 30 of the airport's 50 roles could be cut comes a week after it was announced passenger flights would not be resuming.

Carlisle MP John Stevenson described it as "very disappointing".

The airport's operator, Stobart Group, said Covid-19 has had a "devastating effect on the aviation industry".

Loganair, which had been operating flights to Dublin, Belfast and London Southend since July 2019, grounded services in March and delivered a blow when it said it had no plans to restart them.

When passenger services resumed last year after a quarter of a century, the firm had hoped to transport 500 people per week.

Conservative MP Mr Stevenson said: "I think it's not unexpected sadly. It is a consequence of Covid-19.

"We had great hopes. A year ago everything was set for a very successful airport as Loganair was in and investment had gone in."

Stobart said it was "confident the airport has an important regional economic role to play in the long term" but admitted its current situation was "challenging".

The firm added it was "reluctantly, but unavoidably, engaged in consultations with our team about reductions in staff numbers".