Flightrider, Serenity......
I don't see anything about bailing out Estonian? A quick trawl of the internet indicates that this about the formation of a joint venture with the Estonian government following the bankruptcy of the current Estonian Air, should the government take that decision.
Are Flybe facing some challenges at the moment? Sure, it's fair to say that they are. However, Flybe isn't a single airline business and whilst the UK airline has it's challenges to overcome, Flybe Finland appears unaffected and has grown well on the back of Finnair since it's creation.
I think it's also worth getting some context. Some posters here seem to think that Flybe is on the verge of bankruptcy. I agree that the situation would be much graver if they ignored the need to make redundancies and cost savings within their UK business, but Flybe are currently losing only 2-3% of annual turnover per year.
Whilst not sustainable forever, this isn't anywhere close to the likes of BMI, BMIBaby, Cityjet etc who were/are much much more as a percentage of turnover. Then factor in the number of years that these losses were absorbed and it makes for even more tragic reading. (Of course, I accept that Flybe does not have a parent airline like LH or AF to fall back on).
Flybe still have available cash in the bank from the recent flotation, and the cost reductions are necessary to avoid burning through this more quickly, afterall, shareholders invested on the basis that there would be EU expansion, not to bail out losses in the UK business.
Forgive me but from reading some post on here, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a case of 'last one out turn off the lights'. There are certainly some on here exaggerating the severity of the situation that Flybe finds itself in.
Last edited by JobsaGoodun; 15th Feb 2013 at 08:47.