Flights from UK to Europe cancelled

[Spider]

Romanian airlines cancel flights because of Brexit worries.

I noticed this news item on MS news last night but there does not seem to be much coverage on news today and I thought it would have been an important story.....

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/brexit-blue-air-flight-cancelled-romania-liverpool-airport-airline-travel-a8779261.html

[mint]

What I have noticed is that increasingly TV news lag behind on-line newspapers.  Everything from important news items of general interest to results of sports fixtures are always announced on the internet well before TV.

Thanks for the link:  some important information.

[Judith]

Did read somewhere that one of the eastern european carriers had not had it's licence renewed by the EU, but cannot remember which. Maybe it was this one?

[woolybanana]

Wasnt that one of the ...stans of Asia?

[NickP]

Like we're all queuing up to fly Romanian Airlines? What a disappointment.

[Théière]

[quote user="NickP"]Like we're all queuing up to fly Romanian Airlines? What a disappointment.[/quote]

We aren't but how are "they" all going to get home after March 29?

[Spider]

I think we should also question is it the first of many?

[NickP]

Spider wrote the following post at 16/02/2019 13:01:

I think we should also question is it the first of many?

"the airline did not respond to requests for comment and the precise reason for the cancellations remained a mystery."

[Spider]

The Times:

The airport said that an “impasse” over Brexit had forced Blue Air to

abandon part of its flight schedule between the UK and the European

Union.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/holidaymakers-have-blue-air-flights-cancelled-over-brexit-impasse-3t77ltlcs

Evening Standard:

Blue Air flight cancellations: Brits fume as airline cancels flights 'over Brexit uncertainty

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/blue-air-flight-cancellations-brits-fume-as-airline-cancels-flights-over-brexit-uncertainty-a4067491.html

Express:

AIR passengers have had their holiday plans torn into shreds after a

Romanian airline cancelled flights from Liverpool “because of Brexit”

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1087208/brexit-news-latest-blue-air-flights-cancelled-liverpool-rome-milan

Seems most of the comment blames Brexit. It will be interesting to hear what the airline has to say when/if they eventually make a statement.

[Théière]

Yes let's have a media frenzy over bugger all

[mint]

Not a good time for smaller airlines apparently but I dare say the bigger outfits will survive.  Here is part of Flybmi's statement:

Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by

the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our

inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe and lack of

confidence around BMI's ability to continue flying between destinations

in Europe.

Spider, thought I'd come to your defence but I will not be commenting on any abuse that anyone might want to throw at me[:)]

[NickP]

Spider you forgot to mention these low budget airlines that have collapsed in the last few months:

Monarch

Primera

Cobolt

Air Berlin

Sky Work

V.L.M.

Air Transport World found several common threads among these failures. They generally involve “airlines that were formed relatively recently, attempted to grow fast and then attempted to switch their business models from leisure/charter to network/scheduled or from purely short- and medium- to long-haul.”

I don't think this information could be classed as abuse in any way shape or form.

[cajal]

Ah, that 'old chestnut'  Let's blame are inability to operate a business in an efficient and profitable manner, in a cut-throat industry, on Brexit.

"If planes were half-empty – why didn't Flybmi simply halve the number of flights to fill them all up?

The airline was firmly aimed at business travellers, who demand a

choice of departures. Were the twice-daily Bristol-Munich route to

become only a single daily service, the average load might have fallen

even further."

Why are times so tough?

"This winter is proving extremely cruel to small airlines, which

have high fixed costs and, currently, very low revenues. It has

precipitated the collapse of Primera Air, Cobalt of Cyprus and Germania

before Flybmi."

The bottom line? Wrong people running the company.

The full 'Independant' article can be found Here.

[lindal1000]

Of course there are a number of reasons why any business goes under, but as a business, the airline has to give a legitimate and truthful reason to its shareholders and one of the reasons was the uncertainty over brexit. I don't see how anyone could imagine it didn't have an effect.. last straw and all that. If it looks like a turd and smells like a turd it probably is a turd.

[cajal]

[quote user="lindal1000"]Of course there are a number of reasons why any business goes under, but as a business, the airline has to give a legitimate and truthful reason to its shareholders and one of the reasons was the uncertainty over brexit. I don't see how anyone could imagine it didn't have an effect.. last straw and all that. If it looks like a turd and smells like a turd it probably is a turd.[/quote]

Yes. Airline Investments Ltd (AIL), the present owners of FlyBMI, had obviously chosen a 'shite' business model and had run out of investor cash-cows to stump up more funds.  

From 2009 until 2012, Lufthansa, the German national carrier was the sole shareholder of British Midland Airways and they eventually threw in the towel unable to return BMI back into profit. It was sold on to AIL and the rest is history.

Definitely not the best time to be operating a low-cost airline. Even Ryanair suffered a 10% devaluation following its earlier profit warning.