Brussels Airlines has cancelled its route from Bristol Airport to the Belgian capital as the company announced 1,000 job cuts.
The airline has also slashed its fleet size by one-third following huge losses during the coronavirus pandemic.
It comes after both British Airways and Ryanair announced plans to make major staff cuts.
Ministers have offered support packages to UK businesses in hopes of saving jobs but it's likely the aviation crisis will hit most companies.
Bosses at Brussels Airlines said they expected it to take three years for the company to recover from the crisis.
The Bristol to Brussels route was only launched last July. This is the second time in 18 months the service has been pulled. Flybmi used to operate the same route but it was stopped in February, 2019, when the firm collapsed.
In a statement, Brussels Airlines CEO Dieter Vranckx said: “This unprecedented crisis has worsened our financial situation, obliging us to take substantial and indispensable measures.
“The company is confident that with its turnaround plan it will be able to safeguard 75 per cent of its employment and grow again in a profitable way as soon as the demand for air travel has recovered to a new normal, which is expected as of 2023”
Brussels Airlines currently has a fleet of 54 aircraft made up of Airbus A319, A320 & A330 aircraft. This will be cut to just 38 in the restructuring.
The airline’s owners, Lufthansa are are also in talks with the Belgian Government about a €290m (£256M) financial aid package.
Bosses said they hoped to avoid involuntary redundancies by ending temporary freelance contracts first.
