AN English airport owned by Stagecoach co-founder Ann Gloag is to close next week with a loss of up to 150 jobs.

Manston Airport, in Kent, announced it had failed to find an alternative viable option for staying open following a meeting with its staff. Gloag paid £1 to buy the site in October last year.

Efforts had been under way since March to find a buyer for the airport, which had suffered losses of £10,000 a day, to save the mainly part-time jobs.

Yesterday Conservative MP Roger Gale said an unnamed American firm came forward on Sunday with a bid to buy the airport as a going concern. But the airport said the proposal had been rejected for a number of reasons, including some of those involved in the offer having previously failed to substantiate their proposals.