Several Regional Airlines Take Over Flybe’s Former Routes

Several British regional airlines are putting on additional services, to cover the hole left after Flybe’s collapse on March 5, 2020.

Loganair

Scottish airline Loganair has reacted to the closure of Flybe by announcing plans to safeguard UK regional connectivity by taking up 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 continue 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.

Jonathan Hinkles, Loganair Chief Executive Officer, said:

“The collapse of a long-standing airline like Flybe marks a desperately sad day, especially for the airline’s dedicated team of employees and for customers facing disruption to their journeys. By stepping in quickly with a comprehensive plan, Loganair is aiming to maintain essential air connectivity within the UK regions to keep customers flying, and to offer new employment to former Flybe staff members who are facing an uncertain future today.”

Blue Islands

Blue Islands has further reaffirmed its commitment to its Guernsey – Southampton service as the locally-owned airline has boosted its schedule with even more flights this summer, delivering greater choice and convenience for travel to the South Coast, London and beyond.

Rob Veron, Blue Islands Chief Executive Officer, said:

“Blue Islands is focussed on enriching islanders’ travel options which we believe are essential to the wellbeing and livelihood of our communities. We are proud to have operated our Guernsey – Southampton service since 2007 serving over 800,000 passengers including leisure and business travelers, visitors to our island and sporting customers, as well as providing a reliable, high-frequency service for those traveling for essential medical purposes.”

Blue Islands provides up to 64 weekly flights between Guernsey and Southampton with up to five flights each way per day having scheduled 78 additional flights throughout the summer between 29 June and 26 September on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Eastern Airways

UK regional airline, Eastern Airways, will once again operate its own scheduled network of routes independently.

The privately-owned operator based at Humberside Airport will sell its scheduled routes through its own website and will continue to work closely with the travel trade following the announcement that its franchise partner, Flybe, has gone into administration. 

The existing Eastern Airways network will continue to operate as normal and the airline will honor any tickets on Flybe services operated by Eastern Airways for travel on Friday, Sunday or Monday. 

Eastern Airways is also to offer three new routes, formerly operated by Flybe, to provide certainty to key regions for the protection of services. Aberdeen-Birmingham, Southampton-Manchester and Southampton-Newcastle flights will all commence next week with the schedule released for sale imminently.    

This complements the network of seven scheduled routes from Teesside International Airport to Alicante, Belfast City, Cardiff, Dublin, Isle of Man, London City, Southampton, as well as its existing Aberdeen service.

Tony Burgess, Managing Director of Eastern Airways, said:

“We do extend sympathy to all Flybe staff and their families following the sad news that Flybe has ceased trading.

“As a former franchise partner of Flybe, this will not impact on any flights and routes operated by Eastern Airways.  Revised booking facilities on Eastern Airways services will be advised on EasternAirways.com, which includes the quick recovery on Aberdeen-Birmingham, Southampton-Manchester and Southampton-Newcastle routes. 

“Eastern Airways remains fully committed to providing regional connectivity with business links to capital cities and industrial centers.” 

Aurigny

Aurigny announced that it will be launching two new permanent direct air services from Guernsey to ensure essential island connections with Birmingham and Exeter are maintained following the collapse of Flybe. 

The first new service to Birmingham will operate on Wednesday 11th March and the new Exeter service on Thursday 12th March.

Mark Darby, Aurigny Chief Executive Officer, said: 

“We believe that maintaining Guernsey’s connectivity is key and with the collapse of Flybe it is an unmissable opportunity for Aurigny to provide valuable customer service while at the same time increasing our operation and improving our financial position.  Given that we are able to do this with no increase in fixed costs and with aircraft, crew and a user-friendly booking system immediately available to us we hope that this will alleviate some travel concerns that islanders may have at this time.”

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