Originally Posted by
22/04
I ma a bit worried about this "ample funds to bail itself out" stuff. Remember those ample funds are somebodies money We live in a market economy last time I looked. If I were a shareholder in any of the consortium running Connect Airways I would not approve further investment without being presented with a plan for with a credible return at some time in the future. Now it may be that reaching a position where a return on investment could be foreseen was always difficult but the Heathrow slots were seen as an insurance policy - even if VS can't have them they can be sold for a return if Connect Airways is kept going long enough. There was on one else offering a better deal to keep Flybe going at the time.
What the government should be doing is only keeping the existing airline going while the connectivity it wishes secure can be identified and then coming up with a strategy to protect an operate those routes - that could be a chunk of Flybe - another operator - or conceivably a state run entity at least in the short term, rather like the Rail Operator of last resort.
I do feel for the Flybe crew - I know at least one - just as I felt for friends in Monarch and Thomas Cook who lost their jobs. All I know who worked for Monarch and Thomas Cook have found other jobs with BA, VS, TUI, etc. and I presume it would be the same for Flybe crew.
Im sure staff such as crew and engineers would find alternative work fairly easily , However a lot of the “back room” staff based around Exeter might find things a little more difficult .