Sunday, 24 Nov 2024

Flybe reassures passengers all flights are safe after rival airline collapses

Budget airline Flybe has reassured customers that flights are unaffected after rival operator Flybmi filed for administration on Friday, citing Brexit uncertainty.

Flybe, which operates services in and out of Southampton confirmed it’s not collapsed – and flights will continue as normal across the UK.

It comes after Flybmi, which operated 17 regional aircrafts to 25 European cities, cancelled all flights on Saturday.

A total of 376 employees based in the UK, Germany, Sweden and Belgium have since had their jobs placed at risk – with some travellers revealing they’ve been left stranded abroad after all flights were grounded.

However Flybe has now spoken out to reassure users that it bears no relation to Flybmi.

A post on Twitter said: "We are very sorry to hear about the situation with the competing British regional airline Flybmi and our thoughts are with their employees during these difficult times.

"Flybe has nothing to do with Flybmi and our flights continue to operate as normal."

However while flights may be unaffected, the airline is currently mid way through a takeover that could affect passengers later this Spring.

The company is currently being bought out by the firm behind Virgin Atlantic in a £2.2 million takeover.

It comes after the carrier put itself up for sale in November, placing 2,300 jobs at risk, just weeks after issuing a profit warning.

Speaking on what this means for customers, a Flybe spokeswoman told Mirror Money no changes to schedules are expected.

"There will also be no changes to bookings from its website, while existing flights won’t be affected by the announcement," a comment added.

On twitter, the Exeter-based airline said: "Flights will continue to operate as per our published schedule and you can continue to book flights with us at Flybe.com ".

And speaking about flights over the summer holidays, it said: "Flybe with its consortium including Virgin Atlantic & Stobart Group would like to reassure passengers that there will be no major change to our published schedules to the end of Summer 2019 (i.e. end of Oct 19)."

Flybe, whose roots date back to 1979, has 78 planes operating from smaller airports such as London City, Southampton, Cardiff, Aberdeen and Norwich to destinations in the UK and Europe.

It serves about eight million passengers a year, but has been struggling to recover from a costly IT overhaul and has been trying to reduce costs.

Elsewhere, last week Thomas Cook revealed it could be forced to sell its entire airline arm – including German business Condor – to allow it to expand its branded hotels.

The company admitted it’s "considering all options" – and rumours are already starting to swirl over a potential takeover by Lufthansa.

Thomas Cook reported a 1% rise in first quarter revenue to £1.65 billion last year, but underlying operating losses increased by £14 million to £60 million, prompting review talks.

The chain blamed losses on a weaker demand for Spain after last year’s prolonged heatwave and added that bookings for winter breaks in the Nordics are also down.

Here’s what the sale of Thomas Cook would mean for you.

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Troubled airlines

  • Thomas Cook in talks to sell airline
  • Virgin Atlantic to buy-out Flybe
  • Flybmi goes into administration
  • Primera Air collapse

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