Sad News 😟😣

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51746564

You can probably also count tran-states here in the usa as another airline to fall to coronavirus. they had already been struggling to fulfill obligations and during the  restructuring and consolidations announced by ual last week due to coronavirus, they were to be wound down by the end of the year.

Well that's not good. I lost my job with Aviator last year when Thomas Cook went under, so I went to work at Menzies Aviation, and guess which airline they do? Yup, that'd be FlyBe. Gonna be a fun day at work tomorrow I imagine.

 bugger! All the best Al !

They've been struggling for some time based on a slew of poor management decisions ever since Jim French stepped down from the helm. Virgin and Delta clearly have no confidence in its viability as it currently stands, so are letting it fold.

Flybe is currently Europe's largest regional airline, so hopefully other airlines (Easy, Loganair, Eastern, among others) will rush to step-in and take on the profitable flying bits that are about to become available.

Fingers crossed for good news for crews, ground staff and @Chock over the next few weeks.

@Chock

Always enjoy reading your posts. Hope all is going to be well for you.

Rob

 

If those news hold true, It would be a shame not to be able to look again at those beautiful liveries on their Q400's, ATR's, etc.

Good luck to those who may be affected.

Ed

 

As far as I'm aware, and have been since the middle of last year, it was always on the cards that FlyBe was folding and was going to turn into Virgin Connect, so it could be used for providing a regional feeder service for Virgin's mainline international flights.

Since Virgin are one of the owners of FlyBe, I suspect they were basically holding out for a cash injection from the Government (since why spend your own money) and it was looking like, in light of the slamming the Govt got for not bailing out Thomas Cook, that they might get the cash injection they were hoping for by painting FlyBe's troubles as Thomas Cook mark 2, at which point the owners would fold the airline anyway and then hey presto Virgin Connect courtesy of a nice windfall from Mister and Mrs UK taxpayer, with the bonus of a nicely timed excuse of 'it's the result of the coronavirus', to blame on it folding and running off with the cash, which it clearly is not. Guess they'll have to do it without the windfall from us lot now! Similar thing happened with Thomas Cook, they are being investigated because apparently a couple of hundred million quid has gone 'missing'. See? All this stuff is never quite as simple as it seems lol.

The problem for us at Menzies Aviation is that we lose the contract for Air France and KLM at the end of this month, and now with losing FlyBe too, that leaves us with only the IAG airlines we have contracts for, so basically British Airways, Aer Lingus, Icelandair and Loganair, which is not enough work for all the staff at Manchester, so I'm guessing some people will get the push, but ever was it so with work in aviation, although there is a rumour flying around that we're going to end up with Ryanair. It's volatile, so you  end up with a different badge on your work outfit every once in a while lol, although having said that, personally I don't work on many FlyBe flights, I mostly do the IAG ones, so I'm perhaps not as at risk as some.

Edited March 4, 20206 yr by Chock

Alan,

You have my best wishes for retention of your employment and a very rosy future. I really hope it all works out for you.

Regards

Tony

It's the FlyBe staff I feel sorry for, they not only have to worry about getting a job, but also have to be helpful to customers when I'm sure they really don't feel quite in the mood to put on a smiling face whilst doing that.

On the plus side for me, it does mean there's far less possibility that I'll have to work on Embraer 170-190s, which can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned lol. Sadly, BA City Flyer also use them, so I'm not out of the woods completely. 🤣

Edited March 5, 20206 yr by Chock

Not good for N. Ireland's Belfast City airport either. Flybe accounts for around 80 percent of flights leaving out.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/news/wizz-air-cuts-flights-and-costs-as-coronavirus-sends-demand-nosediving/ar-BB10IKu5?li=AA54rU

Another one at risk.

Sorry to hear that, Chock. Ryanair? Urghhhh. Still, if it puts bread on the table.

Funny how, in the sim-world, Ryanair and Easyjet are more popular than they are in Real-life, but then again, it's all about planes in the sim, not customer-service.

Edited March 5, 20206 yr by Jude Bradley

8 hours ago, Chock said:

On the plus side for me, it does mean there's far less possibility that I'll have to work on Embraer 170-190s

You've mentioned that before. I'm intrigued - if you could share your reasons some time; I always enjoy your practical insights.

You bet flybe have collapsed. And I'm here in Guernsey with no way home!!!

Was due to fly back on Saturday.

Am currently trying to come up with a solution.