UK’s Flybe regional carrier cancels all flights and immediately stops trading

Flybe, the regional UK carrier has, for the second time in three years, entered into administration. It has ceased all operations, cancelled all flights and laid off 276 members of its staff, leaving some 75,000 passengers who have already booked tickets in a state of limbo as the tickets will no longer be honoured. "Flybe has now ceased trading and all flights from and to the UK operated by Flybe have been cancelled and will not be rescheduled," it said on Saturday. Operating a fleet of eight Bombardier Q400 twin-turboprop aircraft Flybe flew 21 routes to 17 destinations from Belfast, Birmingham and Heathrow across the UK and to Amsterdam and Geneva. David Pike and Mike Pink from Interpath have appointed joint administrators and Pike commented that since the carrier’s relaunch last year it has encountered a number of problems, one of the major ones being the failure of lessors to deliver 17 aircraft on time, severely compromising Flybe’s attempts at rebuilding capacity and remaining competitive. Flybe originally went into administration in March 2020 as a direct result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air travel, at that time affecting 2,400 jobs. The business was sold to Thyme Opco Ltd, a Cyrus Capital-controlled firm, in October 202 and it recommenced operations in April 2022, though on a much smaller scale. The demise of Flybe is in contrast to a recent uptick in demand witnessed by both Ryanair and easyJet, two major low-cost European carriers, both of whom have reported record-breaking bookings for the forthcoming summer season.