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BRITISH REGIONAL AIRLINE Flybmi has announced it will cease operations and file for administration, blaming spikes in fuel, carbon costs and uncertainty over Brexit.
Parent company British Midland Regional Limited said it had cancelled all flights with immediate effect, and would not be able to purchase, rearrange or reschedule any bookings on behalf of customers.
Flybmi, based in the East Midlands region of England, operated routes to 25 European cities, and had 376 employees based in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.
“It is with a heavy heart that we have made this unavoidable announcement today,” a company spokesperson said in a statement posted on its website.
“The airline has faced several difficulties, including recent spikes in fuel and carbon costs.
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“Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process,” the spokesperson added.
Flybmi had been unable to secure post-Brexit flying contracts in Europe and feared it may not be able to continue serving destinations on the continent after Britain leaves the EU on 29 March, according to the statement.
“Against this background, it has become impossible for the airline’s shareholders to continue their extensive programme of funding into the business, despite investment totalling over £40 million in the last six years,” it said.
The airline, which said it carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights last year, operated under codeshare agreements with a host of European partners, including Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Air France.
Its flights operated out of Aberdeen, Bristol, East Midlands, London Stansted, Newcastle and Derry in Britain as well as a host of European airports, including Frankurt, Milan Bergamo, Munich, and Paris Charles de Gaulle.
In lengthy advice posted online, it told customers not to travel to airports unless they have re-booked flights with alternative providers.
It advised them to seek refunds for their cancelled reservations from credit card companies, booking websites or travel insurance providers.
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@Pdiddy: maybe that is because they operated 37 and 50 seater aircraft – the photo is of BMI baby which ceased operations in 2012 – so an 18 passenger load factor is better then the photo suggests – but I agree, very low load factors overall and hard to keep going on low load factor roots
Oh dear – the photo – BMI baby stopped operations in 2012 – and flybmi does not even operate the type of aircraft in the photo … They operate Embraer ERJ-135 and ERJ-145 and they look nothing like the aircraft in the photo which could be a boeing 737 – bad choice and lack of research on someone’s part – should really change the photo to one of the airline that the article as about
@wattsed56: rushed.. it’s been obvious for a few days. Flights been cancelled since Thursday, all aircraft and crew’s were repositioned on Friday and Saturday.
No need for it to be rushed, all aviation sites had it 48 hours agy
The headline is misleading yet again…. It blamed fuel, carbon costs…….. And then uncertainty over BREXIT…. Jaysus people… Stop doing the reporters jobs for them
Funding pulled for the A5 upgrade to Derry (which would have benefited those from
North Donegal too) & now BMI are gone from Derry. Once again the North West is disadvantaged.
@cr: on 35 and 50 seater aircraft that is just under 1/2 load – the aircraft in the photo is BMI baby which stopped operating in 2012 – still hard to continue operations with only 50% load factors….
@Seriously stunned: and in doing so it gives the Brexiter ammo to retort that Brexit is responsible for nothing, it was going to happen anyway – same happened with making capital over the decision not to build some vehicle in the UK which had more to do with diesel sales and less to do with Brexit then was portrayed… how many kittens can we blame on Brexit…. ???
BMI baby is a different airline, shorthand BD for British Midland. That airline is merged with British Airways now.
This airline is BM, formerly BMI regional, used to be part of Lufthansa, now independent. You might just want to change the cover shot to an Embraer in their livery.
@Brendan Joseph Madden: 100% agree – and commented to that effect some time ago – guess no one monitors the comments… it is actually misleading as there are people working out the load factor as 17 or 18 pax per flight – thinking it is a very empty aircraft whereas they are nearly 1/.2 full..
I know it’s pretty irrelevant.. The file photo used on this article is of BMIBABY Airlines… That ceased flying in 2012… But as people are saying its first of many… And you’ll get a fair few companies using Brexit as an excuse to close.
it also ‘blamed’ raising fuel cost ,airport tax’s and carbon tax’s’ — but hey lets just ‘blame’ everything on brexit shall we ?? maybe if governments across the world were not so greedy in taxing anything and everything to the hilt – more people and businesses would be able to survive !
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