Originally Posted by
Doc Q
I may be wrong but i’ve not seen anything to suggest the government won’t step in to assist
Bear in mind this isn’t monarch or jet 2 it’s a British institution that's been in business for over a century and a half .
Not sure that the company's longevity counts for much - Monarch had been around for half a century too. I believe it's against EU rules for the UK govt to subsidise an airline in the way that has been suggested - as Monarch found to their cost.
In terms of the news stories, this feels very like the weekend before the Mon collapse almost exactly two years ago (the time of year when airline balance sheets are at a maximum) I'm afraid - in that case the CAA used it to plan the rescue flights and tickets remained on sale, with (I assume) directors given a nod and a wink from govt/CAA that it was OK to carry on trading despite the decision already having been made on the Friday before the plug was pulled by email to staff early on Monday morning. Non-ATOL bookings were also covered by the govt in that case as, it was said, people on airport floors would not look good during the imminent Tory party conference.
I do hope I'm wrong but this "secrecy" is a well-practiced procedure by the govt/CAA for insolvent tour operators/airlines and in the Mon case even senior pilot managers didn't know until the Monday morning.
Best of luck to all affected.