More turbulence hits airline industry

Last month, British airline Flybmi cancelled all its flights and filed for administration blaming spikes in fuel and carbon costs and the ongoing uncertainty over Brexit.


The closure of the East Midlands-based airline will affect 376 staff.


The BALPA airline pilots’ union said the company gave no warning to staff over what was about to happen.


Union general secretary Brian Strutton described the company’s collapse as “devastating news for all employees”.


He said: “Regrettably, BALPA had no warning or any information from the company at all.


“Our immediate steps will be to support Flybmi pilots and explore with the directors and administrators whether their jobs can be saved.”


The Unite union, which represents some of the airline’s cabin and maintenance staff, warned that the factors that brought down Flybmi will be threatening the whole of the sector. Unite East Midlands regional secretary Paresh Patel said Unite urged the government to “do more to restore confidence in the economy”, and for prime minister Theresa May to urgently “bring clarity on our future relationship with the EU before many more jobs are put at risk”.


Another UK regional airline, Flybe, was forced to put itself up for sale in November, placing 2,300 jobs at risk. A consortium, Connect Airways Limited, has since stepped in, with BALPA saying the jury is out on whether the deal on offer is good news or not.

https://unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2019/february/unite-seeks-urgent-talks-on-the-future-of-flybmi-airline

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/16/flybmi-collapses-blaming-brexit-uncertainty

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47278322