Flybe Collapses

[Robertj21a]

Flybe finally going under ?

Struggling airline Flybe is facing fresh doubts over its future amid uncertainty about a rescue loan and the impact of coronavirus on its bookings.

Flybe is looking to the government to commit to helping the airline in the next few days if it is to survive.

But a £100m government loan to help stabilise the business is now unlikely to happen, the BBC understands.

The coronavirus impact on travel "has made a bad situation much worse," insiders told the BBC.

According to the FT, which first reported the news, the airline believes it has enough financial resources to survive "until the end of this month".

Flybe has been in discussions with the government about a loan of up to £100m to help it bridge the period between the lean months of winter - when airlines typically lose money - to the richer pickings in summer.

The government also agreed to consider a cut to airline passenger duty (APD). Currently, this £13 per person tax on short haul flying is levied per passenger leaving UK airports. That means that domestic routes pay the tax twice and Flybe has been pushing for the tax to be halved on internal UK flights.

Neither of these options now seem likely.

...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51733405

 

[Antman]

Flybe finally going under ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51733405

I just heard on the news that the end is just a few hours away.

 

[TheEdge]

What happened to Virgin Connect then?

 

[Bletchleyite]

What happened to Virgin Connect then?

In essence they realised they had bought a pup.

 

[Tetchytyke]

What happened to Virgin Connect then?

Richard Branson wanted the taxpayer to fund his toy instead of putting his own cash in.

I flew over from Ronaldsway this morning to Manchester. Didn't expect it to be my last Flybe* flight.

(*It was actually a Stobart ATR72, which probably gives us an insight as to the next step for important regional routes)

 

[FQTV]

The flybe website went offline at 23:00.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The flybe website went offline at 23:00.

Still online for me and showing availability!

Scrap that, showing a weird error message now.

 

[Airline Man]

At the time of writing the are still three Flybe aircraft in the air. There won't be any official announcement until the last three flights land. Their website is down as well.

 

[Airline Man]

There'll be a battle over the LHR slots that Flybe free up. I'm not sure how many they have but they'll be worth millions.

 

[richard1976]

What happens now to Eastern Airways & Blue Islands who apperate there flights under the Flybe franchise

 

[skifans]

What happens now to Eastern Airways & Blue Islands who apperate there flights under the Flybe franchise

Statements from both to people (can't find direct originals) that apparently that they will run as normal:
https://twitter.com/KevinPamplin/status/1235344649876889601
https://www.facebook.com/1934566156780439/posts/2604822659754782/

 

[Cowley]

There'll be a battle over the LHR slots that Flybe free up. I'm not sure how many they have but they'll be worth millions.

Sorry, but what’s ‘LHR’?

 

[dcsprior]

Sorry, but what’s ‘LHR’?

London HeathRow airport

 

[johntea]

Shame, I never got round to a trip from Leeds Bradford to Newquay, a 1hr 20min flight compared to 6-8 hours by road/rail!

 

[Scotrail314209]

I think Loganair might step in and take the market for domestic flights. They done the same by taking up some former BMI Regional routes and aircraft when they went under.

However, until all this is finalised I think the railways are going to be put under serious strain, particularly the long distance routes as Flybe provided many faster options to get around.

 

[sprunt]

Well, this is less than ideal. I'm off to Groningen tomorrow on the train from London, and I've got a Flybe booking home on Monday.

 

[crablab]

and I've got a Flybe booking home on Monday

Speak to your bank later today if you don't have travel insurance to claim on.

 

[PG]

However, until all this is finalised I think the railways are going to be put under serious strain...

Spoiler: Controversy alert

Maybe it's time we reduced our reliance on domestic air travel and let the train take the strain?

 

[sprunt]

Speak to your bank later today if you don't have travel insurance to claim on.

To be honest, my concern at this point is more how I'll actually get home than the money I spent - I only paid £35 for the flight, so less than both the section 75 threshold and the excess on my insurance.

Weirdly I've just done an Expedia search for flights, and the flight I'm booked on is now showing up as a Virgin flight. Different flight number, but the same details down to the operated by Stobart part. Anyone know where I stand with this? if it's going to fly, but my Flybe ticket is invalid the obvious thing to do would be to book onto this.

 

[PG]

To be honest, my concern at this point is more how I'll actually get home than the money I spent - I only paid £35 for the flight, so less than both the section 75 threshold and the excess on my insurance.

Weirdly I've just done an Expedia search for flights, and the flight I'm booked on is now showing up as a Virgin flight. Different flight number, but the same details down to the operated by Stobart part. Anyone know where I stand with this? if it's going to fly, but my Flybe ticket is invalid the obvious thing to do would be to book onto this.

View attachment 75036

I'm not sure where you stand on this but perhaps a call/email/tweet to Stobart Air enquiring if they will allow you to use the ticket you already have might give you the best idea?

 

[sprunt]

I'm not sure where you stand on this but perhaps a call/email/tweet to Stobart Air enquiring if they will allow you to use the ticket you already have might give you the best idea?

I guess - although they don't seem to have an active Twitter account (@StobartAirRBLX hasn't tweeted since 2014) and I doubt there'll be anyone answering the phones right now. I think the best thing I can do at this point is go to bed - at worst, I guess I'll have to rebook the flight through Virgin. Or even from another Dutch airport, but there are a load of flights to London from NL on Monday, the abandoned passengers from one Groningen to Southend flight aren't going to see them all snapped up before tomorrow when the picture's a bit clearer.

 

[PTR 444]

I booked a Flybe flight from Southampton to Manchester only yesterday. Now what am I gonna do? (Or more importantly how am I gonna get my money back?)

 

[PTR 444]

Spoiler: Controversy alert

Maybe it's time we reduced our reliance on domestic air travel and let the train take the strain?

Good point, but the thing is, the train doesn’t serve everywhere and it’s rather expensive. Perhaps we need government led initiatives to make train travel cheaper and more attractive

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Spoiler: Controversy alert

Maybe it's time we reduced our reliance on domestic air travel and let the train take the strain?

Good point, but the thing is, the train doesn’t serve everywhere and it’s rather expensive. Perhaps we need government led initiatives to make train travel cheaper and more attractive

All well and good but in terms of speed and convenience air will beat rail for many journeys at least until we have a proper HSR network. For some passengers price will also be a consideration: it might appear that Fly.be has not been able to make all its routes viable but the reason for its collapse is actually more due to the significant dampening of demand for international travel due to the coronavirus scare rather than the profitability of its domestic network. Though there can be no doubt that it has been struggling for some time.

 

[PTR 444]

All well and good but in terms of speed and convenience air will beat rail for many journeys at least

Well it won’t now Southampton has no direct route to Manchester thanks to no other operator running flights between the two airports

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Well it won’t now Southampton has no direct route to Manchester thanks to no other operator running flights between the two airports

TBF I was making a general point in response to a suggestion that it should now be a political priority to reduce or even eliminate domestic flying. Going forward we shall have to wait and see if any other operator is interested in continuing any of Fly.be's routes or not. It may well turn out that in practice the current weakness of the economy is having a dampening effect all by itself. But that may not be a long-term situation.

 

[C J Snarzell]

On another note - I wonder how many Flybe 'soon-to-be' former employees will be applying for future rail jobs?

The Thomas Cook fiasco last year actually saw TOCs like Virgin & East Midlands Railway create Thomas Cook ONLY jobs.

Thomas Cook were fortunate that Hays Travel stepped in and bailed out many stores and provided a lifeline for many employees left out in the cold. Sadly, I don't think Flybe staff will have that luxury.

CJ

 

[thejuggler]

TBF I was making a general point in response to a suggestion that it should now be a political priority to reduce or even eliminate domestic flying. Going forward we shall have to wait and see if any other operator is interested in continuing any of Fly.be's routes or not. It may well turn out that in practice the current weakness of the economy is having a dampening effect all by itself. But that may not be a long-term situation.

So the message to Northern Ireland and all the Scottish Islands is 'get a ferry'?

Or is there a plan for bridges to be built linking every inhabited island with an airport to the mainland? Shetlands to Wick will be an amazing structure.

 

[krus_aragon]

Things are going to be interesting at Cardiff, between the swiss-cheese departures board, and the significat investment the Welsh Government have in the airport.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Flybe have said their Stobart Air flights won't run either.

I now live on the Isle of Man. I hope it gets sorted quickly. There aren't many trains from the Isle of Man. EasyJet are now either sold out or charging £220 to go IOM-Liverpool.

I flew over yesterday ahead of a family gathering at the weekend but my wife was due to fly Saturday morning. Luckily she's somehow got BA flights IOM-LCY then LHR-NCL on one booking for under £100, but it's all a mess.