Creditors of collapsed airline Duo will be lucky to receive 7p of every pound they are owed.

The Birminghambased airline went into administration last year owing more than £40 million after a disastrous series of business deals.

A report by administrators Deloitte showed it failed to attract passenger bookings via a new internet system, while customer payments stalled in a mix-up with the company's credit card acquirer.

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With debts mounting and the required revenue levels failing to materialise, potential rescue packages failed and the firm went into administration in May.

It had a net loss of £20 million, while a further £ 25 million was owed to creditors from parent companies Duo Holdings and Duo Group.

The three Duo companies held just over £1 million when they collapsed.

Adrian Kibbler, an unsecured creditor and former head of communications with the airline, is now calling for a Department of Trade and Industry investigation into its collapse.

"It is a scandal that we are now being told that if we are lucky we may get 7p in the pound two years after the collapse," he said.

"The scale may be different but the issues are every bit as serious as with the failure of Austin Rover.

"The passengers, staff and creditors deserve answers as to how the company seemingly got through best part of £40 million in less than a year and continued to trade when it was clearly in such financial difficulties.

"We also need to know the details on a compromise agreement entered into between the administrator's and Duo directors. In other words how much money, if any, have the directors who led the business to disaster pocketed.

"Duo is a catalogue of calamity with no end in sight for the victims of this flight into financial farce."

Birmingham International was the only one of Britain's 'top ten' largest passenger airports not to achieve a significant increase in passenger numbers last year, according to experts at property agency King Sturge.

They said the reason was because of a dip in the popularity of charter flights - and the collapse of Duo.

Birmingham International, however, still ranks as the sixth largest passenger airport in the UK and Ireland.

King Sturge's report also highlights the growth of low-cost airlines.

In 1998, fewer than eight million passengers used low-cost carriers - in 2003 the figure stood at 47 million.