It had been on the cards for some time, but last night the airline Flybe collapsed and has now gone into administration. Let me just leave this Twitter announcement made in January by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps here:
It seems that Flybe has gone the inevitable way of every Tory promise.
I had bought a ticket to fly from Dublin to Cardiff at the end of next week as the following week is a study break that includes the St Patrick’s Day holiday. As a result I got this email this morning.
Obviously it’s an inconvenience for me as I’ll have to find another way to get to Cardiff, but I’ll probably get my money refunded by the Chargeback scheme so it’s not such a big deal. The same can’t be said of the 2000 people who worked for Flybe who have now lost their jobs, nor the many others whose livelihoods depended indirectly on this airline who may also lose theirs. The impact on some of the smaller regional airports in the UK will be considerable, although some airlines may well step in and take up some of the demand.
As of last year, almost 80% of flights from Belfast City airport and 95% from Southampton were via Flybe
I think another airline might well take up some of the Belfast routes, but I doubt if the same would be true of Southampton. In a way, it’s a pity that these small mainland regional airports are so important, which is partly because regional train services are so poor and so expensive, but I can’t see that changing.
I have actually used Flybe quite a lot over the last couple of years. For a while I was taking weekly flights between Cardiff and Dublin and the service was generally quite reliable. I feel very sorry for the staff who have lost their jobs and send them my best wishes and hope that they can find alternative employment before too long.
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