A flight from Liverpool to Amsterdam, which was hailed as a significant move for the city's prosperity, has been grounded after just six months - because not enough people wanted to go.
Flybe is axing its three times a day service between Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol, with the last flight on March 29.
The flight was aimed at the international market with flights timed to coincide with onward long haul connections available through Amsterdam, such as New York, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai and Toronto.
Read: Flybe to go to Amsterdam from Liverpool
Dutch airline KLM launched a route with a similar model from Speke in 2008 which was similarly vaunted as viital for the region’s business and tourism sectors. It was abruptly axed three years later with competition from Manchester Airport being blamed by some.
Flybe said it remains committed to operating its four short domestic summer routes from Liverpool - Belfast, The Isle of Man, Edinburgh and Newquay.
Read: Liverpool to Cornwall in 70 minutes
Greeting its launch last year, Mayor Joe Anderson said: This is excellent news for Liverpool and the wider city-region. Our ambition is to make Liverpool a national and international destination for visitors and investors alike.
“The route to future markets depends on our connectivity, so re-establishing the connection to Amsterdam opens up a vital gateway to our future prosperity.”
All passengers who have booked flights online for the upcoming summer season will be contacted by Flybe in date priority order and offered a full refund or the option to be re-accommodated on an alternate flight.
A Flybe spokesman said: "Flybe carefully reviews the viability of all our routes on a regular basis.
"This is done not only to monitor where we can offer increased regularity on a given route but also where passenger numbers make a flight economically as well as environmentally harder to justify. With many opportunities to improve regional connectivity within the UK Flybe continues to refine its network to best serve our customers.
"Regretfully, the Amsterdam service has failed to perform to expectations and passenger numbers remain insufficient to justify its continued operation."
