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PLYMOUTH City Council's Cabinet is being recommended to back plans to shut the city's airport for passenger flights.
Two reports from consultants have revealed there is no operator or airline willing to run the airport or flights, and not enough businesses used it to make it economically viable for the council to underwrite its use.
The Cabinet, when it meets on August 23, is therefore recommended to accept a notice of non-viability, allowing airport operators Sutton Harbour Group (SHG) to close the airport for passenger services.
The Cabinet will also consider further recommendations that the council enter talks with Plymouth City Airport and SHG to secure the airport's continued use for military flying and search-and-rescue on a temporary basis while future options are considered.
There is also a recommendation for the Cabinet to instruct officers to develop the case for better and more regular rail connectivity and infrastructure.
A report also suggests the airport land should be protected from incremental and short-term planning applications until long-term options can be looked at.
SHG, which has held the lease of the airport land since 2000, announced its intention to withdraw as airport operator last December.
And airline Air South West recently announced the end of passenger operations due to lack of demand.
Under conditions of the lease, the council must legally respond to the principle: "Is Plymouth City Airport viable for its principal purpose of a public airport and passenger services on a regular and commercial basis to members of the public?"
The authority commissioned aviation consultants Orien Advisors to see if there was interest from operators in running a downgraded airport.
But despite investigating 12 airlines and 17 airport operators, none came forward.
Orien found none were in a position to make firm commitments to establish services on commercial terms, within required timescales and with sufficient scale to make the economics of operating the airline viable.
The consultants also said there were not enough profitable routes out of Plymouth and the uncertainties and costs of trying to achieve even a modest route network would be a "substantial risk to the council".
An economic study, jointly commissioned by the council and Chamber of Commerce, into the economic impact of the airport and future operating models, found businesses wanted to use the airport, but actual use had been minimal in recent years.
Aviation experts Berkeley Hanover Consulting, which carried out the study, were unable to identify "an economic rationale" for the council to underwrite the commercial risks involved in keeping "any scale of airport operations".
The study highlighted that the economic impact declined sharply after losing Heathrow slots in 1997 and Gatwick slots in 2011.
The short runway severely restricts it to 19- to 50-seater planes, preventing low-cost and holiday charter markets.
Only two short-runway aircraft are still in production, limiting its long term future as a commercial airport.
Economic potential was further constrained by geography and surrounding airports.
Business travellers have adapted travel habits with more than half the businesses preferring better train services to London.
But the consultants said it could be possible to operate a "very limited" passenger airport or a general aviation airfield, broadly cost-covering though unlikely to be commercially profitable.
Cllr Ted Fry, Cabinet member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development, said: "We wanted to make sure every possible option had been explored before formally and carefully considering Sutton Harbour's notice.
"We also needed to hear from independent aviation experts about the airport's prospects. Our role now is clear. The Cabinet is being asked to act as a legal check to make sure SHG are correct in their claim that the airport is not working as a commercial venture."
The two aviation reports, together with the findings of the Grant Thornton due diligence exercise on SHG will be taken into consideration by Cabinet members.