Flybe flights cancelled as airline ceases trading

[Michael Grove]

Regional airline Flybe has ceased trading and all its scheduled flights have been cancelled, the UK Civil Aviation Authority has announced. “All Flybe flights have now been cancelled. Please do not go to the ...,” the authority said in a statement early on Saturday.

“Flybe customers who still need to travel will need to make their own alternative travel arrangements via other airlines, rail or coach operators,” it said.

“We urge passengers planning to fly with this airline not to go to the airport as all Flybe flights are cancelled. For the latest advice, Flybe customers should visit the Civil Aviation Authority’s website or our Twitter feed for more information.”

[Michael Grove]

“A huge pack of cards has just fallen over,” said Tim Jones, chairman of the South West Business Council. Jones said that if the services the airport provided were not replaced quickly – and lost jobs restored as well – the result could be losses of up to £600m a year to the regional economy.

Exeter airport – where all but one of the scheduled departures on Thursday was supposed to be a Flybe service – is an important hub not just for holidaymakers but for business people who use it to hop to London and other major cities in the UK and Europe. It is also used by people flying in from other parts of the UK to work on infrastructure projects for a week at a time, such as the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant site on the Somerset coast.