Budapest  - German courier DHL confirmed on Friday that it would close its logistics base at the FlyBalaton airport, in another blow to the struggling provincial airport in western Hungary, next to Central Europe's largest lake.

DHL established a cargo base at the airport in the autumn of 2007, but last summer stopped running daily flights from Dresden in Germany. The base is to close by the end of February.

As DHL confirmed newspaper reports that it was pulling out entirely, Cape Clear Aviation - the Irish-Hungarian company behind FlyBalaton - was already in desperate talks with partners to try and secure traffic for the airport from spring.

The airport suffered a major blow last year when its biggest customer, the Irish budget airline Ryanair, cancelled all routes to FlyBalaton in October.

This move prompted management to suspend all winter flights.

One ray of hope for the troubled airport comes from the German airline Lufthansa, which is reportedly already selling tickets for flights to Lake Balaton from April.

The Hungarian government is keen to revamp Lake Balaton - a popular tourist destination for Eastern Europeans during the communist era - as part of its New National Development Plan.

"The Hungarian state attaches great importance to the continuing operation of (the airport)," Tamas Suchmann, president of the Balaton Development Council said on Friday.

In earlier interviews, Suchmann did not rule out the possibility of state support to keep FlyBalaton open.

The foundation stone of the Balatonring, a MotoGP racing track near Balaton, was laid in November last year just a few kilometres from FlyBalaton airport.

Balatonring could do for motorcycle racing in Hungary what the famous Hungaroring racing circuit did for Formula One, and plans to host a Hungarian Grand Prix in September.

The past few years have seen dozens of new tourist resort developments around the 77-kilometre-long lake, including yachting clubs and golf courses.

The closure of the FlyBalaton airport in the town of Sarmellek at the south western end of the lake would be a serious blow to the local travel industry. (dpa)