This was meant to be a good summer for Carlisle Lake District Airport.

Just over a year ago, the airport, which is owned and operated by Stobart Group, began running commercial passenger flights, hoping for a healthy first full summer season in 2020.

Instead the coronavirus crisis saw flights grinding to a halt and airlines battling to survive, with operator Loganair announcing it would not resume flights at Carlisle in the foreseeable future.

Glyn Jones, chief executive of Stobart Aviation, said the impact on the sector was “unbelievable”.

“I can remember really clearly 9/11, which was a big impact, but to put it in perspective, in 9/11 demand fell by 15 per cent,” he said.

“In the months during coronavirus demand fell by 100 per cent.

“This summer isn’t quite a right off, but it’s not far off.”

However, he said he was confident passengers would return at some point.

“You make investments in airports for the long term,” he said.

“We are still really clear that Carlisle has a great role to play. Yes, it has been disappointing, but we take a long term perspective and demand will return.”

The company is in the process of trying to get some of the routes the airline covers designated as public service obligation routes, which means they would receive financial support from the Government.

“We have already made the application to Government and that will make a big difference but that will take a bit of time,” said Glyn.

“We need to make a case to Government saying that the route is contributing to its regional economy or will be difficult to make work commercially without government support.

“The connectivity it brings is extremely valuable and Carlisle isn’t exactly super remote but it’s not in the middle of the country either.”

He said the company can also make the case the airport will play an in important part in the Government’s pledge to “level up” economic prosperity in the north and south, as well being instrumental in the vision outlined in the Borderlands initiative.

“The background to it all is the contribution the airport makes to the local and regional economy,” he said.

In the meantime, as the airport remains closed, the company is thinking of a number of different ways to try and create additional income, beyond passenger flights.

One is increasing use of the site by private pilots and flying schools.

“There has always been a little bit of that, our desire is to make it bigger than it has been in the past,” said Glyn.

It is also looking into how parts of the airport can be used by the military for training, in the same way as the Dutch air force have used it in the past.

“Military budgets are under as much pressure as budgets anywhere, but the military have to do their training somewhere,” he said.

“What’s happened in the past is that they would use part of the airport at the same time as it was operating and be physically separate.”

Another potential revenue stream is the use of the airport by individuals who own private jets.

“Given the location, which is just about the first airport you arrive at in England, is there a market for transatlantic private jet operations?” he said.

Stobart is also exploring the possibility of playing a part in logistics and the transport of goods, as well as commercialising the airport as a filming location.

The timescales on when passenger demand would return were growing rather than decreasing, Glyn said.

“Demand will come back in different ways,” he said.

“It will come back for short haul most quickly, because it’s simpler, you haven’t got to do complicated things like change aircraft.

“We expect leisure flights to come back first.

He said the volume of business flights may remain low as companies realise the amount of money they have saved by not taking them during the crisis.

“Businesses are going to be quite reluctant to take risks with their staff by asking them to travel for business,” said Glyn.

“When profits are under pressure travel just gets cut.

“I think leisure travel and people visiting friends and relations might come back, but with all of that being said, it’s a two to three year deal. But, because Carlisle is going to be fundamentally UK regional, if the UK is managed so the perception is that it is safe, then we may be able to come ahead of that curve.”

He said Stobart was talking to potential replacements for Loganair, but it was unlikely these conversations would progress quickly.

“We are talking to lots of people, but the focus of most airlines at the moment is on survival,” he said.

He said the airport was still pursuing freeport status as the UK left the European Union.

“Aviation is a big part of the economy and the supply chain it supports is even bigger and the impact has been brutal,” he said.

“That is supported by furlough. If we take furlough away from the beginning of the winter then you potentially have a huge economic problem and Government will be keen to do something about it and one way it can potentially do that is through freeports. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the actions by Government is to try and get these things moving a bit more quickly.”