UK regional airline Flybmi on Saturday announced that it had ceased operations and was filing for administration, blaming spikes in fuel and carbon costs and uncertainty over Brexit.
Parent company British Midland Regional Ltd said that it had canceled all flights with immediate effect and would not be able to purchase, rearrange or reschedule any bookings on behalf of customers.
Flybmi, based in the East Midlands region of England, operated 17 aircraft on routes to 25 European cities and had 376 employees based in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.
“It is with a heavy heart that we have made this unavoidable announcement today,” a company spokesperson said in a statement posted on its Web site. “The airline has faced several difficulties, including recent spikes in fuel and carbon costs.”
“Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process,” the spokesperson added.
Flybmi had been unable to secure post-Brexit flying contracts in Europe and feared that it might not be able to continue serving destinations on the Continent after Britain leaves the EU on March 29, according to the statement.
“Against this background, it has become impossible for the airline’s shareholders to continue their extensive program of funding into the business, despite investment totaling over £40 million [US$51.64 million] in the last six years,” it said.
The airline, which said that it carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights last year, operated under codeshare agreements with a host of European partners, including Lufthansa AG, Turkish Airlines AO and Air France SA.
Its flights operated out of Aberdeen International, Bristol, East Midlands, London Stansted, Newcastle International and City of Derry Airports in the UK, as well as a host of European airports, including Frankfurt am Main, Milan Bergamo, Munich International and Paris Charles de Gaulle airports.
In lengthy advice posted online, Flybmi told customers not to travel to airports unless they have rebooked flights with alternative carriers.
It said they should seek refunds for their canceled reservations from credit card companies, booking Web sites or travel insurance providers.
Britain is scheduled to leave the EU in less than six weeks, but the British Parliament is yet to approve a withdrawal agreement with the union, leaving businesses increasingly concerned that the country could crash out without a deal.
Airbus SE on Sunday said that it would have to make “difficult decisions” about future investment if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal, adding that it has already spent tens of millions of euros in preparations.
“There is no such thing as a managed ‘no deal,’ it’s absolutely catastrophic for us,” Airbus senior vice president Katherine Bennett told the BBC’s Andrew Marr. “Some difficult decisions will have to made if there’s no-deal ... we will have to look at future investments.”
Airbus has already spent “tens of millions of euros” on preparing for Brexit, for example by stockpiling parts and securing information technology systems, she added.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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