And people wonder why Airlines are going out of business. How can you get compensation at triple the cost of the ticket, crazy!!!!

Because otherwise there would be an incentive for airlines to simply sell tickets like crazy and cancel flights at their pleasure should they be unable to fill the seats? Without compensation, airlines could simply walk away from contracts by repaying the fare.

Today on BBC Radio4 there was a discussion topic about Flybe's current situation. The term Flymaybe was used and reference to broad and varied negative debate about Flybe on Twitter. It started to feel like the term Flymaybe had feeded, feels like it may make a comeback ..sad day for the organisation.

So even if this reason is true, she's basically admitting in public that they can't run the business properly - what sort of numpty manager would let leave build up in this way so it all gets taken at once?

Blame the chairman, he's accountable.

There's been a litany of miss management, French and his cronies were just as guilty. Say what you like about Saad but at least we made a profit one year under him, infact that was the only year I've known a true profit made in all the years I've been there.

Point-to-Point small jets from local airports is certainly an interesting business model. No-one in Europe has successfully made money with. I think it's being a bit revisionist to say that flyBe 'over ordered'. The competitive landscape has changed utterly in 15 years. The E195s were ordered in June 2005, back then Ryanair had around 100 aircraft, flying to and from (very)secondary airports. Airports like EDI, GLA, MAN and BHX were LCC-free zones, bar Ryanair to Dublin. easyJet were still building their presence at LGW and a lot of people "would never fly an LCC". In retrospect flyBe would probably have been better off with 737-700s or A319s, but they probably couldn't finance them and the feeling at the time would have been that those aircraft were "too large" for the use flyBe had planned.

All of that said, flyBe has repeatedly failed to assess risks to their business and alter the model. Moves like flyBe Nordic and wet-leasing to SN seem good ideas, but flyBe lost a fortune in the Nordics. Thats an impressive feat with a cost+ model.

None of this will be a surprise to anyone who worked there on the front line in recent years. Unfortunately the management there have never had a clue and seem to think that good business skills start and end at being ruthless to the staff and squeezing every last drop out of them "because they can". Can't put my finger on it but its always clown town down Exeter way regardless of who's in charge - but the ineptitude is compounded by greed. If they found £10m in the street then by the end of the year they'd have managed to turn it into a £50m loss citing Brexit uncertainty increased fuel and pilot costs and economic headwinds. It's like a stuck record. That would be after taking £20m of it in bonuses. Worse places to work? Probably, but that's not the point. There were years and years when they weren't on the ropes but they could have worked with the staff to create a healthy and viable workplace people wanted to stay long term, but that's not considered good business is it, even for the last 2 years when they've been haemmoraging pilots. "It's a market thing you know, there's no problem here". It brought me to my knees after too many years. Constant onslaught of ruthlessly fatiguing rosters, calamitous disruption, no home life, and the daily misery delivering an appalling service and ruining people's plans - mainly due to equipment everybody knows isn't or ever will be fit for purpose; the Dash 8 - engineering nightmare which barely worked when it was brand new, island hopping local van which they thought they could pass off as an airliner and passengers wouldn't notice, 2-3hrs in a shaking old bomber? Meanwhile send your actual airliner to do BHX-BHD etc. Brilliant. Don't get me wrong, the money's okay but that's not the point, most captains have been begging for years for LESS money, ie part time so they can have a life. No? Ok, we're leaving then. Geniuses.

Absolutely fantastic people working there, superb training, the cabin crew especially are as good as any anywhere in the world, but if only I'd known years ago how much better my life could have been had I left sooner and might even live a bit longer. I really wish those sticking it out the best of luck, but to anyone maybe lacking confidence but thinking about moving I'd say do it, I really doubt you'll regret it.

As with everything else recently, there have been mixed messages coming out of BE. With regards to the E-jets, I know the E95's are leaving the fleet by end of FY19/20 but what about the E75's. Several media outlets have carried different stories with some saying all E75's + 4 orders are going and others stating the 11 x E75's are staying minus the 4 orders. Can someone clear this up once and for all! cheers

Well - my starter for ten:

- the statement only talked about the 6 EMB-195's going;
- these are currently deployed at EXT (2) and SOU for sun routes, and at MAN (2) and BHX for 'regional routes';
- we know the sun routes at EXT and SOU are going, so that's 3 to go, and presumably the 175's at DSA and CWL will go to replace the other 3 195's at MAN and BHX;
- if ALL the EMB's are going (175's as well as 195's) there will have to be far more unannounced route reductions to come.

Comments?

E195 - Fleet for disposal
E175 - 04 a/c for disposal
E175 - 04 outstanding orders canx

jethro's

Does a seven-strong fleet of E75 dispersed all over England really make sense from an operational perspective, given that they are pretty close to the Q400 capacity-wise and, due to their relatively small size, most probably too uneconomical on most leisure routes where their legs could be useful on paper?

By the time they strip out 10 of the 71 UK based planes there will be one flight in 7 being dropped? they say they will still fly to Doncaster and Cardiff so Q400 must be robbed from somewhere else? I guess there won't be much in the way of flying from the sleepy hollow known as Norwich?

Ryanair and Michael O'Leary? Seem to remember this happening some time ago.

175's
 

I can only see BHX and MAN housing the remaining 7 E175's of which 3 will be used on the CDG if the arrangement with Air France continues and as they are more inter-linked *(Virgin-Delta-Skyteam) there is a chance it will.

The others will be used on BHX & MAN MXP if these routes remain and perhaps BHX-STR TXL and again if these routes remain although these are often Dash 8's as well these days.

This brings me on to six-sixty's excellent post and the only minor point I have to add is that BHX-BHD is only a 175 on a Saturday and it is to get the aircraft there to fly BHD-SZG or INN (can't remember which one), the more perplexing use of the 175's is the regular MAN-NQY, MAN-SOU and MAN-BHD. The jets at BHX in the main do operate routes with decent business take-up or are a little longer than the norm or the extra seats are filled such as MXP, STR, TXL, LYS, AMS etc. If you see one in the week on domestic it is usually covering for the Dash which gain Six Sixty is spot on.

Most at BHX seem to be thinking that MXP, STR, TXL, HAM, HAJ, LYS, DUS might not be around in 12 months and also expecting changes on CDG and AMS.

Pete

There wasn't much in the way of flybe from NWI anyway but the NWI - EXT is now expected to continue on the Dash, Malaga and Alicante expected to disappear, but to be taken up by another airline.

Current thinking is that there may well be a reduction on CDG & AMS routes due to EU competition rulings.

I suspect the reduction of the EJets is the start of a swing away from European routes to more domestic, even the possibility of more London (LHR & LGW) routes, if the slots can be found.

The official stance from the company regarding fleet reduction is the hand back of the 6 195s, 4 x 175s are to be handed back and the 4 175s on order will be/have been cancelled.
My personal opinion is within 18 months there will be no ejets within Flybe.