If you have a ticket already, be careful and consider a backup. Flybe is often linked with an arriving international flight to take the passenger onward to a domestic destination. British Airways often have these interline arrangements. If you have a ticket with a BA code you might be rescued, but if you have it via their website – buy another flight. If you booked you full airline ticket with an agent, they can assist with rerouting to another carrier. If you did it via an online flight website buy another ticket for that onward connection.
Europe’s Largest Regional Airline Flybe is on the brink of collapsing and is pleading for financial help from the British Government to stop them from going under.
The Exeter-based airline carries more than 8 million passengers a year and is a vital operator at regional airports around the UK. Its network covers 56 airports across Britain and Europe.
If the airline were to go under it would see up to 2000 jobs lost. Flybe has now requested that the British government defer a multi-million pound air passenger duty bill so that the airline can stay afloat through winter and make it through to the peak summer months.
According to the UK Daily Mail Flybe boss Mark Anderson has out an email to staff saying he was focused on turning the airline around. ‘All my energy, and that of our Leadership Team, is very focused on continuing to turn Flybe, soon to be Virgin Connect, around and deliver the heartfelt service that our customers expect,” he wrote. ‘I do appreciate that the headlines some of you have already read are disturbing but I want you to know that we are determined to do everything we can to make this work.’
You may recall that the airline was most recently for sale in 2018 and that Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and US hedge fund Cyrus Capital bought it in March 2019. They paid aid £2.8 million for Flybe’s operations and another £2.2 million for the parent company with plans to rebrand the airline to Virgin Connect this year.
According to Flybe’s Twitter account, it is still “business as usual” this week.
“Flybe continues to provide great service and connectivity for our customers while ensuring they can continue to travel as planned. We don’t comment on rumour or speculation,” the carrier also tweeted.