Blue Air cancels flights and blames Brexit

[Spanish eyes]

Report in the Independent

Brexit uncertainty has forced a European airline to cancel flights to the UK, leaving British holidaymakers stranded. Romania’s Blue Air, which links several UK cities to destinations across Europe, reportedly informed passengers hoping to depart from Liverpool that their flights were cancelled.

A spokesperson for the city’s John Lennon Airport said “the current Brexit impasse" meant the carrier had been "unable to receive the necessary clarity” to offer the flights. Dozens of passengers expecting to fly to Rome and Alicante complained their flights with Blue Air had been cancelled on Wednesday night but tickets were still available to buy online.

While Blue Air will continue to operate flights between the two countries, services from the UK to any other country could be affected if the UK leaves the EU without a continuation of current EU legislation.

Blue Air currently serves Liverpool, Luton, Birmingham and Glasgow in the UK. Affected passengers said they were told by email all Blue Air flights to and from Liverpool after 28 February would be cancelled due to "operational reasons".

Blue Air flights between Luton and Turin are also expected to be affected. Neither Blue Air nor the Department for Transport responded to requests for comment. One of those affected, Andy Barton, tweeted: "They're [Blue Air] not answering the phone to anybody; they sent a form in Romanian to claim a refund, then block me on twitter so I can't contact them." Another stranded passenger, Dale Swinson, wrote: "Worst treatment I have ever had, left me in limbo on a holiday that was a present for my girlfriend and the customer service when you finally get through is atrocious!" Seats for flights with the airline are still available to buy online.

Tickets for an Alitalia flight to Rome "operated by Blue Air", listed to depart at exactly the same time, are also available but for more than double the price. A spokesman for John Lennon Airport said: "Blue Air has successfully operated its based aircraft for two years in Liverpool serving a wide range of routes."Unfortunately, as a Romanian Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holder, the current Brexit impasse means that the carrier has been unable to receive the necessary clarity regarding their ability to operate seventh freedom services which are currently possible under EU Open Skies."The carrier will continue to serve Liverpool John Lennon Airport and will increase flights this summer to Bucharest and Bacau."

Seventh freedom services under the EU Open Skies agreement refer to flights between countries which are not an airline's home country.

[LTNman]

And there was me thinking that Brexit happens on 29th March.

[FFHKG]

This has already been reported on the LPL thread which will lose it Blue Air based aircraft.

[LGS6753]

Luton-Larnaca flights bookable through the summer. Luton-Turin only seems to be operating this week, and on 23rd March.

[LTNman]

So clearly has nothing to do with Brexit then apart from the airline looking to shift blame.

[SWBKCB]

Originally Posted by LTNman

So clearly has nothing to do with Brexit then apart from the airline looking to shift blame.

Blue Air don't know whether they will be able to operate flights from the UK after 29/03 - they probably will, but can't guarantee it. They might think this is an acceptable risk for the LTN flights which could easily be switched to another, intra-EU route, moving an entire based a/c operation is a bigger risk. Not an unreasonable stance.

[LTNman]

Have to ask the question why start cut backs now unless a route was making loses and Blue Air wanted to blame outside factors.

[SWBKCB]

Or perhaps they've been hanging on till the last minute as they expected a deal to have been made by now?

[LTNman]

Most folk would not view now as the last minute. More to this than meets the eye I am thinking.

[compton3bravo]

As a Romanian airline they will be unable to operate from the UK to another EU country apart from Romania unless they have a UK operators licence. As only one aircraft was based at Liverpool it was probably uneconomic to apply for a !icence. That is why the Luton-Turin service cannot operate unless an agreement is reached by 29 March. All to do with Brexit LTNman.

[SWBKCB]

Originally Posted by LTNman

So clearly has nothing to do with Brexit then apart from the airline looking to shift blame.

Most folk would not view now as the last minute. More to this than meets the eye I am thinking.

There might well be, but it is disingenuous to say that Brexit will have had no impact

[paully]

It might be all to do with Brexit but I`m with LTNman, there is more to this than meets the eye. I suspect the non Romania flights from Liverpool were poor yield, so right timing right excuse, I`m afraid

[virginblue]

So what? The added uncertainty regarding Brexit has tipped the iceberg and so having a LPL-based aircraft is no longer a viable business case. You will hardly find any business judgment these days that can be monocausally linked to Brexit. Brexit is a contributing factor in many cases that will result in a change of direction for businesses.

[LTNman]

That is why the Luton-Turin service cannot operate unless an agreement is reached by 29 March. All to do with Brexit LTNman.

OK, I know there is going to be a simple answer but why is Turin affected and not say Larnaca? Why pull flights now which is 6 weeks before they have to when there might even be an agreement? What happens if there is an agreement, does Blue Air return to Liverpool? Somehow I doubt they will.

[davidjohnson6]

Taking a sympathetic view to Blue Air, I imagine they need to make substantial decisions now as to where aircraft will be based over S19 and have a pretty good idea of their summer schedule. They might wish to leave room for minor changes later but when passengers expect a lead time of a few months between tickets going on sale and a flight date, they can't wait

Any pulling of flights has to be done 2 weeks in advance anyway, and with little obvious sign of agreement between Westminster and Brussels, it's getting close to crunch time for small airlines operating 7th freedom routes between the UK and the EU27

[GROUNDHOG]

Have a small leak in the conservatory roof.....I blame Brexit.

[22/04]

Even if there is more to it than meets the eye - there are going to be a lot of businesses not betting on the UK when there is a relatively "strong and stable" EU out there with a market size ten times bigger.

[rowly6339]

Originally Posted by 22/04

Even if there is more to it than meets the eye - there are going to be a lot of businesses not betting on the UK when there is a relatively "strong and stable" EU out there with a market size ten times bigger.

A strong and stable EU hahaha that made me giggle thanks for the laugh.

[BACsuperVC10]

Originally Posted by paully

It might be all to do with Brexit but I`m with LTNman, there is more to this than meets the eye. I suspect the non Romania flights from Liverpool were poor yield, so right timing right excuse, I`m afraid

​​​​​The Liverpool to Rome route was pretty well patronized .Many of the other routes were duplications of Ryanair , Easyjet or both. Frankly I would say as a fairly unknown airline unless your going to Eastern Europe, they would have had their work cut out for them competing. I'm sure Brexit won't have helped matter either.

[ZULUBOY]

[QUOTE=rowly6339;10391958]

A strong and stable EU hahaha that made me giggle thanks for the laugh.

[/QUOTE

The EU has been very strong, stable and unified in it's Brexit negotiations with the UK.