Time running out for Flybe

Wednesday 04 March 2020

Flybe might not be around come April, it has been revealed, as the airline is once again running out of cash, this time thanks to Coronavirus.

The airline says it has been hit by a massive drop in flight bookings since the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, which has reportedly hit its already struggling finances hard.

As a result, it requested a £100million loan from the UK government, but that is not looking likely, leaving the business reliant on a reduction to air passenger duty being announced in next week's parliamentary budget. 

Flybe services a number of routes in Guernsey and is also a franchise partner of Blue Islands. It has described its situation as "urgent" and said it will need financial support in the coming days to survive. That support might come in the form of a loan, and it might come in the form of different duties but the airline's owners have said if they don't get any support, Flybe will go into administration.

Pictured: Flybe is a franchise partner of Blue Islands. 

What will happen to the routes in the island is yet to be seen. If the business does go into administration, it is likely operations will cease immediately. The UK government has helped to bail Flybe out of a similar situation before though and has indicated it is going to cut duty to help it. It is just not yet know whether this will be enough support to keep the business going if Coronavirus continues to spread.

While there are no cases of the virus in the Channel Islands yet, it has sprung up all over Europe, with over 80 cases in the UK. Across the board, this has seen people dropping travel plans to stay at home, which in turn has hit the travel industry internationally. 

Pictured top: Flybe are now owned by a conglomerate of Virgin Atlantic, Cyrus Capital and the Stobart Group.