Govt ‘urgently working to fill Flybe routes’

The UK’s aviation minister Kelly Tolhurst said the Government stands ready to support regional airports and communities devastated by the failure of Flybe.

She told the House of Commons: "We recognise the impact that this will have on UK airports particularly those which have large-scale Flybe operations," she said.

"We are urgently working with industry to identify opportunities to fill routes."

She said the Government had ‘done all it could’ for the failing airline, adding: "Flybe outlined what the problems with their business had been. The directors decided it was not viable to keep Flybe operating.

"It’s not the role of government to prop them  up."

Her speech in the Commons coincided with the announcement that Loganair has stepped in to safeguard 16 routes formerly flown by Flybe.  

The airline will be adding nearly 400 new flights each week and has opened a special recruitment line for former Flybe employees seeking to continuing their aviation careers with Loganair.

The 16 routes – from existing Loganair base airports at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Newcastle – will be launched progressively over the next four months.  Flights on the first and largest group of these key air routes will commence on Monday March 16.   All flights are already on sale at www.loganair.co.uk and via travel agent systems.

Tim Jeans, chairman of Cornwall Airport Newquay described Flybe’s collapse as a ‘very serious event’, adding Flybe was responsible for 75% of traffic through the airport.

"The impact is going to be very significant," he said.

The airport is contacting other airlines about filling the routes and Jeans said he hopes routes will be re-established ‘within weeks rather than months’.

Not only was Flybe one of Europe’s biggest regional airlines, flying to up to 56 European airports, but it is also responsible for the majority of UK domestic flights outside London.

The Exeter-based airline was the second biggest operator from several UK airports, such as Belfast City, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester and some communities heavily depended on its service.

Newquay in Cornwall has no direct train service to London, while in the Isle of Man, Flybe had a contract to fly NHS patients from the island to hospitals in Liverpool. What’s more, Flybe flights were often cheaper than domestic rail services.

It also brought passengers from regional airports to Heathrow and the airline provided links to the City of London from Amsterdam, Belfast, Edinburgh, Exeter and Jersey.

It was especially important to the Northern Ireland economy and its collapse has meant Northern Ireland has lost 16 air routes to mainland UK, leaving it with just four – at least until other airlines jump in to plug the gap.