NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Flybmi collapse triggers calls for airline protection


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


Flybmi’s failure on Saturday left hundreds of passengers without fights triggering resh s or airline-failure protection.


The carrier called in administrators, blaming uncertainty about Brexit. However, parent company Airline Investments continues to operate, as does its Glasgow-based subsidiary Loganair, which is looking to take over Flybmi routes including the subsidised Derry-Stansted service. Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the ssociation of tol ompanies, said: “The problem was Flybmi


5 Westoe rebooks clients after failure


Samantha Mayling and Juliet Dennis


Westoe Travel owner Graeme Brett worked until 11pm on Saturday night with wife Joan and daughter Gillian to help customers affected by Flybmi’s collapse.


Brett heard the airline had


failed at about 7.45pm that night and the South Shields agency had clients due to fly from Newcastle to Stavanger this week.


He said: “The clients are oil rig


worers and were due to fly out, so we needed to make sure they could still fly  it’s their ob. They were very pleased we dealt with it and booed alternative flights. Westoe Travel has a system to


ensure it helps clients immediately and had a similar incident in December when a tour operator cancelled a trip to Lapland at short notice. Brett said: “We came in to sort that out too. ou need to find alternatives as soon as possible.” The agency posted messages


6travelweekly.co.uk21 February 2019


on social media about how it was rebooking Flybmi customers. Brett said: “It’s about making a positive out of a negative.” He added: “We got a new


customer from someone who saw our social media [postings] and asked us to reboo flights for them. Nathan ollins, director


of  ollection in ichfield, Staffordshire, said: “These [failures] are happening more frequently. [But] this is an opportunity to shout about


protection and the value of booking with a reputable agent.” Miles Morgan Travel managing


Graeme Brett


director Miles Morgan agreed, saying: “It’s another case where the value of agents comes to the fore.” Heather Fielding, managing director of Gallagher Travel in Derry, said: “We don’t have clients affected, but there is now no link from Derry to London.”


didn’t have any customers. We need the airline insolvency review set up after the Monarch collapse to look into protection.” Advantage Travel Partnership


chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said, ased hy is consumer financial protection not extended to airlines? Perhaps Flybmi will provide a wake-up call for the government.” The Airline Insolvency Review is


due to report shortly. The European Regions Airline Association demanded “an EU-UK aviation agreement to prevent further serious harm” saying: “The challenges posed by Brexit are insurmountable.” Flybmi operated from its East


Midlands base and from Aberdeen, ristol and Newcastle with 17 ets seating up to 49 passengers. It carried 520,000 mainly


corporate customers last year and employed 376 staff. Formerly known as BMI


Regional, the airline was acquired by Lufthansa in 2009, bought by International Airlines Group and sold on to Sector Aviation Holdings in 2012 and bought by irline Investments in 2015. Loganair managing director


Flybmi collapsed on Saturday


Jonathan Hinkles said: “We’re evaluating Flybmi’s wider network.” He insisted the failure “has no impact on Loganair’s continued operation”. There was confusion among consumers about whether the much larger Flybe had ceased flying. Flybe, the subect of a takeover by a consortium including Virgin Atlantic, issued a statement saying: “Flybe has nothing to do with Flybmi. Our flights continue to operate as normal.”


5 STORIES HOT


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88