After the announcement that regional airline Flybe have ceased trading for the second time in a year, rival airlines have stepped in to aid stranded customers.
Around 75,000 passengers have been affected by the cease of trading, with 2,500 supposed to fly on Saturday before the announcement was made.
Flybe have also revealed around 321 staff have been made redundant.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority released a statement following the collapse.
It said,
| “Flybe, which operated scheduled services from Belfast City, Birmingham and Heathrow to airports across the United Kingdom and to Amsterdam and Geneva, has ceased trading. |
| Advice to UK consumers seeking information about refunds, travel insurance claims can be found on our website.
We are aware of the following travel arrangements have been put in place, offering Flybe passengers special fares: British Airways Customers are being offered one-way fares of £50/€60 plus taxes, fees and charges on selected routes to get them where they need to be. Customers due to fly with Flybe can travel on journeys between London and Belfast, Newcastle or Amsterdam. Customers can make their booking by calling the British Airways contact centre on 0344 493 0787. Ryanair Ryanair, launched fares starting from £29.99 to accommodate customers affected by Flybe’s immediate cancellation of its entire UK schedule. Families who booked to fly on now-cancelled Flybe flights can travel on one of Ryanair’s flights, including routes from Belfast to East Midlands, Manchester and London Stansted from only £29.99. These are on sale on the Ryanair.com website for travel from Sunday 26 March 2023. easyJet easyJet is offering fares of £49 for domestic routes and £79 for international routes including a 15kg hold bag will be available on presentation their original Flybe booking reference. This will be in place for Flybe customers until 10 February. Any affected passengers should contact easyJet’s customer service on:
Train operators LNER offered all Flybe customers who had their flights cancelled could travel on any LNER service to their destination for free on 28 January and 29 January. Customers needed to present their cancelled airline ticket. For further info, visit: LNER.co.uk “ |
Ryanair have also launched a fast track recruitment application for any previous employees of Flybe.
Speaking on the cease of trading, Belfast city Airport released the following statement:
“In response to Flybe entering administration, Matthew Hall, Chief Executive of Belfast City Airport said:
“First and foremost, our thoughts are with Flybe employees and passengers affected by this disappointing and unexpected news.
“Passengers booked on Flybe flights should not travel to the airport and should seek further advice from the Civil Aviation Authority.
“Flybe operated 10 flights to and from Belfast City, 8 of which are currently served by other carriers from our airport.
“Alternative travel to Birmingham; Glasgow; Leeds Bradford; London Heathrow, Amsterdam; Edinburgh; Manchester; and Southampton can be arranged through Aer Lingus, KLM, British Airways and Loganair which operates flights to Teesside International from Belfast City Airport.” “
