The boss of Gloucestershire Airport says it is business as usual despite the collapse of one of its airline operators Citywing.

Gloucestershire Airport's operations director Darren Lewington said talks were already under way to find alternative operators.

Citywing, which operated flights from Staverton to Jersey and the Isle of Man, announced at the weekend that it had stopped trading. It was a "virtual airline" selling seats on flights operated by another carrier.

In a statement Citywing said: "As a result of Van Air losing their route licenses on Friday 24th February 2017, the company has found it difficult to source suitable viable aircraft to fulfil our contracts. The company has tried to offer a service whilst suffering considerable losses but these have proved unfortunately to be commercially unsustainable.

"It is therefore with much sadness and deep regret that the Directors of Citywing Aviation Services Limited have had to take the difficult decision to close the company today and put the company into liquidation. This decision has not been taken lightly and has been made to protect creditors.

"Flights on 11th March 2017 onwards have all been cancelled. A liquidator will be appointed and they will advise in due course on how to get a refund on your tickets.

"On behalf of all at Citywing, we all apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you all for your support over the last 4 years."

Darren Lewington said: "Naturally, we're disappointed at this news but are already talking to other operators about the possibility of taking up the Isle of Man and Jersey services, which have operated successfully for a decade. Our tour operator OSET Holidays is also working hard to find alternative flights for those passengers who have booked summer Jersey package holidays.

"As the UK's busiest general aviation airport, handling over 80 000 flights per year, scheduled services are a very small part of our operation, accounting for around only 1 per cent of our total traffic.

"With the Cheltenham Festival - our busiest week of the year -about to begin and strong growth in our corporate and business aviation sectors since the completion of our runway safety project, it is very much 'business as usual' for us in terms of operations."