Early this morning, FlyBe finally called in the administrators. As a result, the airline has suspended services, with no further flights to be operated.
Flybe staved off a collapse in January with a cash injection of £30 million – however, this was not enough to stave off the unit collapsing. It seems additional financial support for the airline has not been forthcoming,
The collapse sadly puts 2,000 jobs at risk
On Wednesday evening, Flybe modified its site – with none of the facilities available.
At around 03:00 on Wednesday morning, the site changed with the administration details published.
Flybe offers the following advice to customers
If you are due to fly with Flybe, please DO NOT TRAVEL TO THE AIRPORT unless you have arranged an alternative flight with another airline. Please note that Flybe is unfortunately not able to arrange alternative flights for passengers.
If you have a booking sold by another airline that includes travel on a Flybe flight, please contact the relevant airline or travel agent to confirm if there is any impact to your travel plans.
Customers are also advised to monitor the Civil Aviation Authority website for further information (www.caa.co.uk).
The UK CAA has published the following initial advice.
Flybe has entered administration.
All Flybe flights are cancelled. Please do not go to the airport as your Flybe flight will not be operating.
For flights operated by franchise partners, passengers should make contact with their airline.#Flybe pic.twitter.com/O9vQ7mvnR8
— UK Civil Aviation Authority (@UK_CAA) March 5, 2020
In a follow up, they advise passenger to rebook onto coach, rail or other air operators where appropriate. There will be no rescue flights this time.
Flybe customers are urged to make their own alternative travel arrangements via other airlines, rail or coach operators.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority will publish further advice for Flybe consumers on our website at: https://t.co/xFvAzIhaSJ.#Flybe pic.twitter.com/uHzaFjn9Zv
— UK Civil Aviation Authority (@UK_CAA) March 5, 2020
FlyBe’s network was point-to-point primary – handling UK Domestic traffic primarily, as well as connectivity between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The airline also had a limited number of European services to its network too.
The airline was brought by Connect Airways – a consortium made up of Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Air and Cypress Partners in 2019 – however, it seems that this did no good.
FlyBe has tried various strategies over time – from going toe-to-toe with low-cost carriers and expanding at a fast rate – things that have come back to bite the airline during uneconomic times.
And it seems that is that.
The carrier was large De Havilland Dash 8 Q400 operator, with 54 of the type in its fleet. The airline also had 9 Embraer E-175 aircraft as well. These are now all grounded, pending repossession by lessors, creditors and owners.
With over 2000 staff now looking for work in a weak market (not helped by the recent human malware out there)- it’s going be extremely tough out there for those who were employed.
Who will fill the capacity?
The final question is a simple – but a very hard one. Who will fill the capacity?
It’s going to tough, as regional flying has high costs, is taxed heavily. Some airports will be scrambling to fill slots (with Southampton Airport having over 95% of its flights sliced in an instance).
Northern Ireland as well will be hit extremely hard, with the airline used to providing a lot of regional traffic from Belfast City Airport.
FlyBe’s network from Belfast City Airport – Image, FlyBe.
For now, there are plenty of questions to be asked about the collapse and the long term ramifications of one less carrier out there to compete.
UPDATED 03:37 with new CAA Advice.
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