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Blackpool airport prepares for final flight before closure

The final commercial flight will take off from Blackpool airport later today ahead of its closure.


Owner Balfour Beatty, which bought the site in 2008, put it up for sale in August but no buyer has been found.


Balfour Beatty said the site had made a loss for several years. But Blackpool Council said the firm should have done more to save the airport from closure.


The council has also blamed the airport’s “onerous contract” with Jet2 along with a failure to bring in new routes, the BBC reported.


Jet2 transferred its flights from Blackpool to Manchester on Friday. The final flight from Blackpool will be made to the Isle of Man at 5pm.


The airport will close one hour after the flight takes off. The final day will also see another Citywing flight to the Isle of Man at 10.10am and an Aer Lingus service to Dublin at 3.20pm.


About 110 staff are employed at the airport, which served 235,000 passengers last year.


A spokesman said the airport was working “with the independent aviation businesses and tenants to understand if their operations can continue in the future”.


“Working in partnership with the local authorities, regeneration plans are also being developed which will be designed to create future employment and sustainable economic development opportunities,” he said.


Aerospace company BAE Systems said it was in talks with a number of operators to offer short-term use of its aviation facilities.

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