The following notice appeared on Flybe.com last Thursday:

"Flybe entered Administration on 5 March 2020 and Alan Hudson, Joanne Robinson, Lucy Winterborne and Simon Edel of EY have been appointed as Joint Administrators.

"All flights have been grounded and the UK business has ceased trading with immediate effect.

"All media enquiries are directed to contact flybepressenquiries@uk.ey.com."

Europe's largest regional carrier Flybe - with hubs at Birmingham, Manchester and Exeter flights to and from 9 other UK airports - has recently accounted for 80% of the air traffic at Belfast City Airport.

Flybe nearly failed in January and has since steadily lost money. An airline spokesperson said the drop in demand for airline seats related to the Coronavirus outbreak "made a difficult situation worse."

Loss of Flybe service, on top of the Coronavirus outbreak, makes a difficult situation worse for NI tourism as well.

Belfast City Airport is said to be in discussions with several carriers to replace Flybe on UK routes.

Can the 2020 summer season be salvaged? Stay tuned for updates.