Virgin and Flybe in the tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G...

They think it’s all over....

FlyBe 852 BHX-EDI just turned around, half way up the journey, and has landed in MAN.

Announcement at 21:00.

Edit at 20:22.... pax on ground, and in air, are being told “fuel issue”. Other MAN departed flights have turned around, and should be on the ground by 9pm. Administrators already on scene. Announcement at 21:00, or soon after. R.I.P. FlyBe. Thoughts to the many staff this evening.

MAN is a Flybe hub, EDI isn’t so that would make sense.

This will be a huge story. Flybe is a basket case but its collapse will create a real headache for a government that’s made much of (and won votes because of) its pledge to connect the nations and regions.

For VS, it’s another embarrassing failure of an attempt to operate a short-haul airline that feeds into mainline. BA, Easyjet and Ryanair have got the domestic market sewn up. VS would be foolish in the extreme to try again. But it surely throws their grand plans for a MAN hub into turmoil.

Yup.
Devil and the deep..
EZY and FR were already shouting ‘state support’ to the EU court.

And I can’t imagine this is an elaborate fold-and-repackage plan, to write off some debts.

Really frustrating for VS.
BA will be quietly smirking..

They will. Particularly if the LHR slots formerly operated by Little Red, now Flybe, revert to them. And we’ve yet to see whether Norwegian will survive coronavirus. BA will be hungrily eyeing up their slots at LGW.

As Rob suggested on headforpoints, BA will take a hit in the short-term, like all airlines, but is in a very strong position in the long-term.

This is tragic.

I don't think this will be the last we'll hear of Virgin Connect. What it looks like remains to be seen. BE had legacy issues that were clearly too hard to overcome.

That said, thoughts go out to everyone at FlyBe. Whatever follows will have a massive impact.

Still a CWL-EDI and DUB-SOU enroute.
The captains must have remembered their AMEX cards to pay the landing fees and ground staff...

Announcement delayed until these flights have landed.

If a pre-pack deal is in the offing, you can be sure we will see Virgin Connect appear in the next few hours. It looks like Flybe is gone, let’s just hope the majority of staff manage to transfer to the “ new company “ or find other jobs quickly.

David.

Any resurgent Virgin Connect would be much, much smaller than Be and focus on the hubs rather than total connectivity. However, I do wonder if Cyrus, Stobart and VS would want to fund at the moment - VS in particular with its own issues over Coronavirus...

Sad situation however, I wonder how much this has to do with the Heathrow 3rd runway court case loss. With this pushing the extra runway more years into the future, there are very few slots that Virgin Connect could benefit from at LHR.

With Manchester and other regional airports not being overstretched at present, it could now be cheaper to let BE go then create Virgin Connect as a new airline without the baggage of BE. This would allow Virgin Connect to free itself of any onerous aircraft leases. With Coronavirus, there are enough aircraft parked up to wet lease/use in the short term.

EDI to LHR just departed. be2111 on way to London.

David

Ops: “don’t depart. Flight cancelled”
Captain: “la la la... can’t hear you”...

BBC reporting that staff at Exeter had come in especially to collect tools. Also reporting that Virgin Atlantic were the party to throw in the towel.

Quite a couple of weeks for VS:
- FlyBe failing
- Coronavirus meaning cost cuts and load impact
- Heathrow runway ruling

The velocity strategy is going well...

Last Flybe flight of the day due to land at Exeter at 2245. Presumably the announcement will follow soon after.

Without the coronavirus I could see VS moving quickly to buy the viable bits of BE from the administrators and launch Connect asap.

But with mainline bookings down 40% year on year, the CEO taking a 20% pay cut, staff asked to volunteer for unpaid leave and the worst effects of the coronavirus yet to come, would they be mad enough to launch a new airline now?

Without Coronavirus issues then I could have seen it, however given its just been reported that of the three parties it was VS who pulled the plug, I'm not optimistic.

VS have bigger worries immediately on their horizon. I do think LHR Runway decision will have had a big impact here.

All flights now landed. Website no longer working. Looks like it’s all over.

Virgin connect website gone now too.

3 flights have now taken off again, from Manchester to Belfast, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Presume it’ll still be it once these land though

This really is terrible news for this country. It's not just the staff of Flybe, or Virgin's plans scrapped, it's our biggest regional airline.

BBC Breakfast are reporting that Exeter and Southampton are considering an extension of their runways so as to accept larger aircraft which might appeal to Ryanair, Easyjet etc...

Thoughts are with all the Flybe staff at this time.

Some big questions now over who will fill the breach on the many routes they operated, particularly from some regional airports where I suspect the likes of easyJet and Ryanair won't necessarily swoop in to take over. Unfortunately, some regional airports are now going to resemble ghost towns.

As far as VS are concerned, as well as seeing some of their plans in disarray there will no doubt be some awkward questions fired their way as to why Flybe failed and why they couldn't turn things around quick enough.

BBC Breakfast are reporting that Exeter and Southampton are considering an extension of their runways so as to accept larger aircraft which might appeal to Ryanair, Easyjet etc...

That would take years though, surely - and would meet huge resistance and possibly legal action from the environmental lobby following the LHR ruling last week.

For VS this is now a major problem. The profitable BE routes that could survive if Connect ever launches aren’t necessarily the ones that provide feed at LHR and MAN.

What do they do now?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-51679904

Interesting analysis from the BBC at the 8.47am post describing Flybe's issues before Virgin took over - doesn't make good reading..

David

First, condolences to those affected by this, in particular those who have lost their employment. This is tough, but I’m sure better times are ahead.

This is an incredibly disappointing end to what seemed to be a good investment for VS to make. What happens next will be interesting, not least because there is a demand for UK regional flying but not in the way FlyBe went about it but also because of the governments requirements for it including via PSOs.

We may never find out if “Virgin Connect” would ever work, the incentive to do so remains albeit they would be starting from a blank sheet of paper, but for all we know the idea might now be dead in the water.

From VS trade, very sad day today ;

We are deeply disappointed that Flybe has been unable to secure a viable basis for its continuing operations and has therefore entered administration.

Virgin Atlantic, along with Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital Partners, formed the Connect Airways consortium which intervened in 2019 to prevent the collapse of Flybe and keep Europe’s largest regional airline flying. With customers and staff at the front of our minds, over the past 14 months the consortium has invested more than £135m to keep the airline flying for an extra year, maintaining 2,400 people in employment and ensuring customers could keep travelling. This amount includes approximately £25million of the £30 million committed in January 2020, alongside a Time to Pay arrangement with HM Treasury for Air Passenger Duty to the value of £3.8 million.

Sadly, despite the efforts of all involved to turn the airline around, not least the people of Flybe, the impact of COVID-19 on Flybe’s trading means that the consortium can no longer commit to continued financial support.