IT’S been a turbulent time for the travel sector. And nobody knows that better than Stephen Bath, joint managing director of Bath Travel.

Mr Bath, joint head of Bath Travel, parent company to troubled airline Palmair, last year made the difficult decision to wrap up operations, handing back its much-loved plane and returning to their former system of chartering seats on other airlines.

The plane G-PJPJ was named after the well-loved Peter Bath, Palmair’s late founder, who died in 2006.

“It has been very difficult. Last year was tough. The ash cloud fiasco cost us in the region of £450,000,” Mr Bath said.

In April last year National Air Traffic Services shut down UK airspace following the eruption of a volcano in Iceland.

At the time Mr Bath called the measure a “massive overreaction” and called for senior figures to resign.

He still stands by his comments saying he was completely vindicated by the action taken by British Airways to get their passengers flying again.

“Despite the criticism from people, I knew I was right at the time”, he said.

But despite the money it cost them, Mr Bath insists it was not the death knell.

“We had already decided to stop the airline operation in October”, he said.

“It was not the last straw, we were already heading in that direction.”

Mr Bath said the problems for Palmair started in 2008 when fuel prices “went through the roof” – leaving the airline with a £1.5million bill that year.

Then, at the end of 2008, European Aviation ceased operations leaving Palmair to source aircraft from elsewhere, soon teaming up with Astraeus Airlines to launch G-PJPJ in 2009.

But despite the happy occasion, by that summer low-cost rival Ryanair was also running many of the same routes as Palmair.

“We couldn’t compete. It was incredibly galling, but if something is making a loss you can’t keep it going forever.

“We wanted to close it down with dignity and I feel we have done that.”

The last Palmair flight, with seats chartered on Thomson Airlines, will fly in April.

Bath Travel will now be focusing on selling holidays out of Bournemouth for other travel companies.

Cruising holidays in particular are proving popular but the company is keen to stress they will still be selling the favourite bucket-and-spade breaks.

They also plan to open one or two new offices in the next year.

Mr Bath added: “Our focus is still on Bournemouth and we will be giving discounts and special offers on Thomson, First Choice and Thomas Cook holidays out of Bournemouth.

“We are continually adapting and changing and this year we expect to achieve the highest turnover in our history – even without Palmair.”