Breaking news. There will be no winter schedule from DSA or CWL as both bases to close. EXT Ejet operations to stop too, all at the end of this summer season.

Good luck to all the great crews potentially affected by this awful news.

News of the cancellations is spreading fast.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47797738

What is your source of the closures?

What on earth is going on, operational issues impacting so many flights, bizarre. Is this a shortage of crew, sickness? Does anybody know the specifics...

EI-BUD

See post #1866

Yes, alot of crew woke up this morning to the news that their base is closing and cabin crew are up for redundancy. Would you be fit to operate having opened your inbox this morning to read this?

None of the Flybe winter schedules are on sale yet for the Winter? Also not seen anything which says DSA and CWL closing for winter. Dangerous gossip if not facts!

Is there any summary of where the cancellations are?
Given that CWL is rumoured to be closing theres only one cancellation this evening to VRN.

Edit: looks like it's true!
https://ukaviation.news/flybe-to-clo...-exeter-bases/

I too read the BBC story earlier this morning. A quick check at 07:58 shows there are 26 Flybe flights in the air at this time. At the same time yesterday, there were 23 in the air, so not much seems to have changed.

Not good for Cardiff. 14 out of their 24 daily departures at risk. not good at Doncaster either with half the scheduled departures flown by Flybe.
bb

ironically the Doncaster and Cardiff flights were among the flights flown

And are part of project Blackbird, which funds the flights. Surely the routes cant be performing that bad that they are still unprofitable with the funding?
BEs prices vs other operators out of BRS and CWL weren't always cheaper, and various routes like DUB, EDI and CDG have grown to decent frequencies with good LFs

I posted yesterday that there would be a cull and was shouted down.
I fear these routes will be lost forever from DSA as there just aren't any interested operators there to pick them up.

You got lucky

I think Loganair would pick up a lot of the slack.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies2/eusa_wall.gif

TimmyW you were shouted down only on the fact you stated on the aircrafts where abouts.

However there is no hiding the the fact that Flybe are in the middle of a crisis. A crewing one. It now all seems planned perhaps. In excess of 20 flights have been cancelled so far today already network-wide and i don't see it getting better anytime soon. Again, is this all planned to give the new consortium oners the excuse to cut down down the airline sooner than later.

Virgin Atlantic have never managed anything good to do with short haul ownership or running. I guess this was written as soon as they got involved.

Best wishes to all the hard working staff affected at CWL, DSA and network-wide.

What are Flybe offering pax on cancelled flights - any effort to re-book or just a refund, I hope they are treating them reasonably for the future of the business, although customer loyalty doesn't count for much today so there isn't as much to lose as in the past.

Not sure that Connect Airways will be involved at the operational level yet. They may be not recruiting crew at the moment as they expect to need fewer to operate future schedules and possibly they have an idea where the routes are that are likely to go so allowing the brunt of disruption to fall there but that is as far as it goes.

For all the bleating on here about DSA and CWL doing deals with local authorities/devolved governments so that an operator uses aircraft on unfavourable leasing terms they can't rid themselves of on routes which take holidaymakers on routes that are operated on commercially viable basis from an airport or airports just down the road is not a viable long term strategy for an airline. If I lived in Cardiff or Doncaster I wouldn't want my council tax to fund it.

https://ukaviation.news/flybe-to-clo...-exeter-bases/

Well looks like I got that post in just in time - I have no connection with Flybe

My understanding is that FlyBe's arrangements at DSA are with Peel the airport operator not Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council.

Thanks for that and fair do's. t the risk of thread drift I think that is a valid strategy and one that has served SEN well - thought I also believe that with EMA DSA and LBA ( and arguably HUY) there are too many airports chasing too few customers in that area.

Same with Cardiff. It's with the airport not the government/local authority. Kind of now brings in the question of legally where both parties stand with the 10 year contract that was signed in 2015 between Cardiff airport and Flybe.

Cardiff seems to be getting on ok with FR though - if they can make money they will fly from there.

Flybe boss has just confirmed on the Radio that it is pulling out of Cardiff and Doncaster at the end of the summer, Jet ops to stop from Exeter as well at the end of the summer season, which was kind of expected if we are all honest.

I would expect that Flybe might make an offer of compensation - but if not or if the airports don't accept Connect Airways will have deeper pockets than Flybe and thus access to very good lawyers

On of the lessons people struggled to understand when I was in the pharma industry was it doesn't matter if you are right it's hard to win against a big company with their access to good lawyers.

So presumably confirmed the bases are to close, but does that mean cutting all the existing routes at those airports as well, or will some continue to operate with aircraft from other bases?

I don't think you should read into it that deeply. There's a major crew shortage on top of the bad news this morning. That's it.
I'd be very surprised if the announced cuts today is the end of it.

Frankly, I don't think anyone should be surprised that the Ejets are going. The article says that it is not the companies intention to make any pilot redundant however the prospect of going back onto the Dash might well lead to some looking for pastures new perhaps.

Not sure if the e-jets are going or being re-deployed elsewhere in the network? Also a rumour that the 4 x E75's on order have been canned!

all jets to stop, just been on skynews

It's difficult for the layman to understand how you can suddenly have both shortage of crew and forthcoming redundancies at the same time ...

Base Changes
 

Expected the NWI sun routes to go but will the NWI-EXT run still be going on the Dash?