These are the UK airports brought to a standstill over the Flybe collapse

Flybe's iconic purple and white fleets have littered runways across the UK for almost two decades, but today (5 March) the short haul airline has officially ceased trading and has gone into liquidation.

The company - originally named Jersey European Airways - rebranded to Flybe in 2002.

Since early this morning, claims that up to 2,000 jobs at the British airliner have circulated around the media, with many staff only being informed of the company's closure along with the rest of the public.

But Flybe was the main airline for several UK airports (especially those connecting UK islands to the mainland), and ran connection flights for larger international airlines, such as Ethiad, Emirates, British Airways, and Air France.

Main Flybe airports

Manchester, Birmingham, and Exeter Airports were Flybe's main hubs, but the airport with the highest percentage of Flybe flights was Anglesey Airport in Wales, with 100 per cent of its flights running through Flybe, according to the BBC.

Up to 70 per cent of Exeter's flights were provided by Flybe, with 30 per cent of all flights coming out of Birmingham run by the now collapsed airline.

All of the main Scottish airports, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, also had a strong partnership with Flybe, as well as many smaller airports in the country.

Sky News shared data on the airports that will be most affected by the Flybe collapse.

Top 10 UK airports with the highest share of Flybe flights (departures in 2019)

Anglesey (487) - 100%Southampton (14,274) - 95%Belfast City (13,767) - 79.5%Exeter (5,498) - 78%Newquay (2,679) - 65.9%Wick (413) - 58.7%Jersey (6,791) - 57.4%Cardiff (4,292) - 51.8%Guernsey (4,543) - 49.5%Isle of Man (3,190) - 49.4%

In January, the UK government was setting up a protection package to protect Flybe from going under. It has claimed that strain on the airline industry due to the ongoing outbreak of Coronavirus has finally tipped the already weak company into liquidation.

Many airports, including Belfast City, are already in talks discussing how to replace the Flybe fleets. Flybe operated almost 80 per cent of Belfast City flights.

Talking to the BBC, Brian Ambrose, Belfast City Chief Executive said, "The airline was a significant economic driver for the region, carrying 1.6 million passengers to and from Belfast in 2019.

"I'm confident that within the next days and weeks we will be announcing backfill on a number of those routes and it's a matter of how quickly airlines can get aircraft available."