flybe. ceases trading, suspends flight operations

Flybe (BE, Birmingham, GB) has announced in a notice on its website published in the early hours of January 28, 2023 that it has "ceased trading" and that all flights operated "have been cancelled and will not be rescheduled. The notice further says that the High Court has appointed David Pike and Mike Pink as Joint Administrators advising passengers to contact the Civil Aviation Authority for further news.

ch-aviation fleets advanced data shows that using a fleet of nine Dash 8-400s on dry-lease from Aergo Capital (one) and Nordic Aviation Capital (eight), it operated scheduled services out of two bases at Belfast City and Birmingham airports.

From Belfast it operated to Amsterdam Schiphol, Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Leeds/Bradford, London Heathrow, Manchester International and Newcastle, GB. From Birmingham, flybe. served Amsterdam, Belfast City, Edinburgh, Geneva, and Glasgow International. In addition, the regional carrier linked Amsterdam with East Midlands and Heathrow with Newcastle and Newquay, and Manchester with Newquay. The only routes to remain unserved following the suspension of operations are Amsterdam-East Midlands, Belfast City-East Midlands, Belfast City-Newcastle, London Heathrow-Newquay, and Manchester-Newquay, according to ch-aviation schedules data. The airline had a market share of 18.95% out of Belfast City and just 3.83% out of Birmingham by scheduled seat capacity at the time it ceased flight operations.

Having just relaunched operations less than one year ago on April 13, 2022, this is the second iteration of flybe. entering administration after the collapse of flybe. (2002) on March 4, 2020.

Investment adviser Cyrus Capital Partners acquired the assets of the original flybe. in April 2021, then planning to resume operations in summer 2021. Flybe Limited has yet to file any financial statements with the UK's Companies House for the 2021 and 2022 financial years.

CH Aviation

flybe takes delivery of 1st DHC-8

The rebirth of flybe is almost there as the airline took delivery of its first aircraft on 25 November. The DHC-8-400, G-JECX (4155), is leased from Nordic Aviation Capital and sports a new livery. In total, the relaunched flybe plans to operate a fleet of twelve DHC-8-400s, all leased via NAC.

flybe, that originally went bankrupt in March 2020, is now owned by investment company Cyrus Capital via Thyme Opco Limited. The restarting airline will have its base at Birmingham. Announcements on which routes it will serve are expected shortly, together with the exact launch date.
Scramble
Photo by De Havilland of Canada (via LinkedIn)

Virgin-led consortium acquires Flybe in $2.8 million takeover deal

UK regional carrier Flybe will be rebranded as Virgin Atlantic under a £2.2 million ($2.81 million) takeover deal announced Jan. 11 by a consortium comprising Virgin Atlantic Ltd., Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital.

Exeter-based Flybe said in November that it was seeking a buyer. The airline had run into financial difficulty as a result of high fuel costs, currency fluctuations and the uncertainty surrounding the UK's planned exit from the European Union. Virgin Atlantic confirmed later that month that it was in talks about a possible deal.

In a joint statement, Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital said they had formed a new company—Connect Airways—through which they had reached an agreement with Flybe’s board to make a cash offer for the entire share capital of Flybe.

Stobart Group, the parent company of Ireland-registered aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) and charter operator Stobart Air, will fold its airline and aircraft leasing businesses into Connect Airways. The three companies have committed to provide a £20 million bridge loan facility, “to support Flybe’s ongoing working capital and operational requirements.”

Once the acquisition is completed, the group will invest up to £80 million to support Flybe’s future growth. The regional carrier “will be rebranded to Virgin Atlantic” eventually, and will continue to operate a network of routes across the UK and Ireland. Flybe will continue to operate as an independent carrier with a separate UK air operator’s certificate (AOC) under the Virgin Atlantic brand, while Stobart Air will keep its separate Irish AOC.

The group will operate independently to UK long-haul carrier Virgin Atlantic under one management team and will be 40% owned by Cyrus Capital, 30% by Stobart Aviation—a wholly owned subsidiary of Stobart Group—and 30% by Virgin Atlantic Ltd.

“Flybe plays a vital role in the UK’s transport infrastructure with a UK regional network, which uniquely positions it to benefit from growing demands from long-haul carriers for passenger feeder traffic,” Flybe CEO Christine Ourmieres-Widener said.

Following the acquisition, Flybe will feed into Virgin Atlantic’s long-haul network from Manchester and London Heathrow. Virgin Atlantic will be hoping the acquisition proves to be third time lucky after two failed attempts in the past to develop a short-haul network.

The airline previously courted UK-based bmi, which was ultimately merged into British Airways, before embarking on a short-haul wet-lease operation in partnership with Aer Lingus known as Little Red. However, this short-lived operation closed down in 2015 because of weak demand.

Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss said of the Flybe deal: “Together, we can provide greater connectivity to our extensive long-haul network and that of our joint venture partners, [Atlanta-based] Delta Air Lines, at Manchester Airport and London Heathrow. In the near future, this will only increase through our expanded joint venture partnership with Air France-KLM.”

Stobart Group CEO Warwick Brady described the deal as “the best way for us to play an active role in regional airline consolidation.”



Kerry Reals, kerry@realsreporting.com

Flybe ‒ Europe’s largest regional airline – has become the first domestic carrier to begin operating at London Heathrow (LHR) since 2013, adding new flights from Edinburgh (EDI) and Aberdeen

The two sectors replace those abandoned by Virgin Atlantic Airways’ Little Red domestic operation which ceased in September 2015. Flybe CEO Christine Ourmieres-Widener, said: “We are so pleased to confirm further our commitment to Scotland by offering even more flights to London with our two new routes from Edinburgh and Aberdeen to Heathrow’s Terminal 2, giving passengers greater choice and also linking them with our range of codeshare partners through our ‘One Stop to the World’ approach. Passengers can, for example, fly onwards with Virgin Atlantic to Los Angeles or New York, or fly east with Singapore Airlines – all on one ticket from Edinburgh or Aberdeen. Early bookings show this is an increasingly important part of the booking profile for these two new routes and we look forward to adding even more codeshare partners shortly.” London Heathrow Operations Director Derek Provan added: “Earlier this year, Heathrow reduced domestic passenger charges by £10 and it’s great to see the benefits of that coming through with Flybe’s new services to Aberdeen and Edinburgh boosting choice for our passengers. We’re delighted to welcome them to the Heathrow family.” The regional carrier will offer a 25 times weekly service to the Scottish capital from 26 March and 18 times weekly to Scotland’s energy capital from 27 March. Both routes, flown by Flybe’s Q400 fleet, will face direct competition from British Airways, which operates to Edinburgh 75 times per week, and to Aberdeen on a 45 times weekly basis.

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flybe. confirms London Heathrow debut set for late 1Q17

Flybe. (BE, Exeter) has confirmed it will indeed commence scheduled passenger flights out of London Heathrow towards the end of the first quarter of next year.

The UK regional carrier said in a filing to the London Stock Exchange that flights from the UK capital's premier gateway to Edinburgh and Aberdeen Dyce would commence from March 26, 2017 onwards. they will use Heathrow's Terminal 2.
The slots are those which Virgin Atlantic (VS, London Heathrow) relinquished on the winding up of its Little Red brand last year.
Heathrow will become flybe's fifth London gateway after London City, London Gatwick, London Southend (services operated by Stobart Air), and London Stansted (services operated by Loganair).

ch aviation

Photo:Ton Jochems - AMS

FlyBe adds London – Dusseldorf route in W16

FlyBe in winter 2016/17 season is adding new service to Germany, with scheduled operations on London City – Dusseldorf route. From 31OCT16, the airline will offer 3 flights on weekdays, 1 on weekends. This route is operated by Dash8-Q400 aircraft.
BE1401 LCY0825 – 1055DUS DH4 x7
BE1405 LCY1505 – 1735DUS DH4 x67
BE1410 LCY1805 – 2035DUS DH4 x6

BE1400 DUS0650 – 0720LCY DH4 x7
BE1404 DUS1405 – 1435LCY DH4 x67
BE1409 DUS1750 – 1820LCY DH4 7
BE1409 DUS1820 – 1850LCY DH4 x67
Jim Liu - Data & Analysis Manager - Airlineroute, Routesonline

Photo:Pedro Filipe - Duss

Flybe has celebrated a UK milestone with its year-round service between Manchester (MAN) and Luxembourg (LUX) that, until 1 September, was a destination previously only accessible from London’s airports. Flights start at daily, but from October will operate twice-daily from Monday to Friday and once a day on weekends with a mix of Q400s and ERJ 175s. Vincent Hodder, Flybe Chief Revenue Officer, commented: “We are delighted to be launching our first flights between Manchester and Luxembourg today. Not only is this a first for Flybe, it is also now the only direct route offered to Luxembourg City outside of London. We have scheduled flight times to make day trips a real possibility as well as helping business travellers save on expensive hotel costs.” Manchester Airport’s Commercial Director, Stephen Turner, said: “We’re delighted to see the launch of Flybe’s new service to Luxembourg, which is a new route for Manchester. We’re confident the route will prove hugely popular with the 22 million people in our catchment area.” There is no direct competition on this city pair. On the same day, the UK regional airline also began daily flights from Southampton (SOU) to Munich (MUC). Operated by Flybe’s Q400 fleet, the 987-kilometre sector, which was originally scheduled to start in June, will face no direct competition.

Aenna

Flybe between 24 and 28 March launch 16 new routes across its UK and European network, including it first based operations from Doncaster Sheffield (DSA)

• Vincent Hodder, Chief Revenue Officer, Flybe said of the launch: “Today (24 March) is a day we have been working towards for a long time with eight brand new routes starting over the next few days from a brand new base – and we are delighted to announce details of yet another new route with a service to Düsseldorf.” As well as launching a wealth of new routes from Doncaster Sheffield, the carrier has also expanded operations by adding further routes from its Birmingham (BHX), Edinburgh (EDI), London City (LCY), Norwich (NWI) and Southampton (SOU) bases. Commenting on the new connection between Norwich and Exeter, the first new route to be operated under the UK Government’s Regional Air Connectivity Fund, Matt Roach, MD Exeter Airport, said: “This is a UK first for Exeter Airport and further evidence of our growing route network. Travelling to Norwich by train or car can take around five hours so we expect this new service to be popular with business and leisure passengers. Norwich Airport is just two and a half miles from the city of Norwich and the gateway to the coastline and countryside of Norfolk.” The average weekly frequency of Flybe’s new routes is 4.8. Only two of the carrier’s latest routes will encounter direct competition, with services from Doncaster Sheffield to Alicante (ALC) and Malaga (AGP) facing Thomson Airways as an incumbent carrier. 

Launched	From	To	Aircraft (WF)	Competition (WF)
24 March	Doncaster Sheffield (DSA)	Amsterdam (AMS)	E195 (7)
		Faro (FAO)	E195 (2)
		Jersey (JER)	E195 (7)
		Newquay (NQY)	E195 (3)
		Paris CDG (CDG)	E195 (13)
	Norwich (NWI)	Exeter (EXT)	Q400 (6)
		Malaga (AGP)	E195 (2)
	Southampton (SOU)	La Rochelle (LRH)	Q400 (2)
25 March	Doncaster Sheffield (DSA)	Alicante (ALC)	E195 (3)	Thomson Airways (3)
		Berlin Tegel (TXL)	E195 (4)
	Norwich (NWI)	Alicante (ALC)	E195 (2)
26 March	Doncaster Sheffield (DSA)	Malaga (AGP)	E195 (3)	Thomson Airways (3)
27 March	Birmingham (BHX)	Knock (NOC)	Q400 (6)
	Edinburgh (EDI)
	Southampton (SOU)	Paris CDG (CDG)	Q400 (7)
28 March	London City (LCY)		Q400 (5)
Source: OAG Schedules Analyser data for w/c 5 April 2016

Aenna-

FLYBE - ERJ190 - G-FBEJ

Passengers from Doncaster Sheffield Airport have flown off to #‎Paris on our inaugural flight from Doncaster, part of a recently announced eight route deal.

Plus, to mark the launch we have today announced a new business route to Dusseldorf that will be available for booking from 31st March 2016! Read more

FLYBE ART COMPETITION In support of Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens

big thank you again to all the hugely talented Kids & Teens who entered the Flybe Art Competition - and many congratulations to Meg Clark, the overall winner! We will be contacting all prizewinners in the next few days.

First Prize Winner: Meg Clark - Family holiday for four with 350,000 Avios to spend on a holiday to a destination of their choice served by Flybe and to cover flights, car hire and accommodation costs for seven days.

Second Prize Winner: Oliver Vernen 4 x free return flights for any Flybe operated route.

Third Prize Winner: Molly Nunn 2 x free return flights for any Flybe operated route.

Consolation Prizes to:
Hannah Clays
Jacques Thomas
Maggie Morris
Robbie Mitchell

FLYBE / LOGANAIR - DORNIER 328 - G-BYMK

Matt Varley - NWI

FLYBE / LOGANIAR - DORNIER 328-110 - G-CCGS

Matt Varley - NWI

Flybe. to lease four ATR72-600s from Avation

Flybe will take delivery of its first ATR turboprops later this year Avation has announced.

The carrier signed 6-year contracts with the Singaporean lessor for four ATR72-600s whose deliveries will run from this year through to the next.

Flybe’s Belfast City to Liverpool

Flybe, following a gap in services of over three years, has begun operating the Belfast City (BHD) to Liverpool (LPL) route again. In fact, it’s the third time the airline has tried this airport pair, having also operated the 243-kilometre sector between February 2005 and early 2007. The 78-seat, Q400-operated service will be flown 17 times weekly.

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Photo:Ton Jochems - AMS

FLYBE - DHC-8-Q400 - G-JECY

Marco Moutinho - AMS

FLY BE - DHC-8-Q400 - G-ECOE

Alain Charpentier - TLS

FLY BE - ERJ-170 - G-FBJJ

Alain Charpentier - TLS

FLY BE - DORNIER 328-100 - G-BYMK " Dundee city of discovery"

Ton Jochems - NWI

FLYBE / LOGANAIR - DORNIER 328 - G-BYMK

Matt Varley - UK, Norwich

FLYBE - DHC-8-Q400 - G-JECY

Alain Charpentier - TLS