• Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
    • Trip Reports
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
Live and Let's Fly
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
    • Trip Reports
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
Home » Flybe » Back From The Dead: Flybe Plans Return To Skies
FlybeNews

Back From The Dead: Flybe Plans Return To Skies

Matthew Klint Posted onOctober 21, 2020October 21, 2020 2 Comments

Flybe Relaunch 2021

British airline Flybe, an early casualty to COVID-19, plans to return to the skies in 2021 after a new investment lifeline. As long as it can find airplanes, that is…

Flybe Plans 2021 Relaunch

The defunct carrier went under in March 2020, taking over 2,000 jobs with it. COVID-19 was a co-morbidity, not the sole cause of death, but certainly the final nail in the coffin for an airline that had been struggling for years over Brexit, currency volatility, and higher fuel costs.

Flybe’s assets, including its brand name, were sold to Thyme Opco, an entity linked to the same company that bailed out bailout Flybe in 2019 via Virgin Atlantic. Prior to the pandemic, the plan was to rebrand Flybe under the Virgin banner and create a feeder network for Virgin Atlantic.

Flybe will operate as a regional airline, with service to began as early as 2021. But there is a problem: the carrier currently has no fleet. Indeed, all that is left is the branding and office equipment. But in an era of surplus aircraft, leasing the right aircraft equipment is not an insurmountable burden, even on a short-term horizon.

There’s also another problem: unless EU and British lawmakers iron out their differences, British carriers may not be able to even serve EU destinations.

Trifle matters…

Heralding the relaunch, Simon Edel, a joint administrator, noted:

“The restart of this iconic brand, which was once Europe’s largest regional airline, will provide a potentially significant boost to aviation jobs, regional connectivity and local economies.”

A spokesperson from Thyme Opco told The Guardian:

“While we plan to start off smaller than before, we expect to create valuable airline industry jobs, restore essential regional connectivity in the UK and contribute to the recovery of a vital part of the country’s economy.”

CONCLUSION

There is that small matter of leasing or buying aircraft, but this is good news for the UK and good news for aviation. The old joke that if you want to make $1 million in the airline industry you must start with $1 billion rings as a cautionary tale, especially now. However, there will likely always be a need for air service to regional UK cities so some successor to Flybe was bound to spring up. Why not just call it Flybe?

Are you excited about a potential Flybe relaunch in 2021?


> Read More: How Nations Protect Their Airlines


image: Tony Hisgett / Wikimedia Commons

Get Daily Updates

Join our mailing list for a daily summary of posts! We never sell your info.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Previous Article Horrifying: Unmasked Passenger Decks Delta Flight Attendant After Her Boyfriend Refused To Wear Seatbelt
Next Article Emirates A380 Laboratory Now Open (Oh Wait, That’s The Bar)

About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

Related Posts

  • Polaris Lounge Newark Dining

    United vs. Delta: The Lounge War Escalates In New York

    June 21, 2025
  • United PlusPoints Uses

    United Airlines Expands Redemption Options For PlusPoints (Full List)

    June 19, 2025
  • a sign in an airport

    American Airlines Suspends Doha Flights, United Airlines Suspends Dubai Amid Regional Conflict

    June 19, 2025

2 Comments

  1. NB Reply
    October 21, 2020 at 10:46 am

    COVID wasn’t even a thing in Europe when FlyBe went under. And the aviation part of Brexit is already agreed between the UK and EU, so that’s not an issue in its resuscitation. So those two canards are laid to rest.

    Finally, the principal reason it was unprofitable was nothing to do with Brexit (which wasn’t even a thing when it became unprofitable, and fuel costs were similar for FlyBe and other airlines which were profitable. Likewise currency volatility. No it was because it largely operated routes which aren’t profitable without Government subsidy, which is unlawful in both EU and UK law. If a route would be profitable, then it’s snapped up by EasyJet or Ryanair. Also, as it had no partnerships and couldn’t offer feed, the routes were even less attractive.

  2. Steve Macdonald Reply
    October 22, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    My dad is a ‘Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares’-like consultant for companies such as airlines and banks (i.e. he goes in, identifies the problem, then tells the CEO how to be a CEO), and he said that Flybe was the biggest wreck he’d seen in 20 years of doing this. I’ve flown on them several times – but he said the point to point operations just made no sense, and he reckoned (in October 2019) that they would not be a thing in 12 months as it was so uneconomical. For instance, launching five flights a day between Leeds/Bradford (LBA) and Dusseldorf (DUS), when Ryanair could not make the route work 3 years earlier with one flight per week. While the business flights from Southampton (SOU) to places like Manchester (MAN), Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dublin were frequent (9, 12, 10 and 5 per day respectively), he said that using a 72 seat Q-400 rather than a 200 seat 737 (which can land in SOU, just about – having taken the LBA to SOU flight on a Dash-8, even this tiny plane uses up most of the runway…) meant that there was no way costs could be covered as there was just not enough cash flow. He did recommend that they moved to Bournemouth (BOH), which is about an hour to the west of Southampton as it has a longer runway, so much so you can land an A380 there, and where BA parked all those planes earlier in March, and it would mean they could operate larger planes like 737s on key routes such as the ones mentioned above. He said as well that the executives were utterly incompetent.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Search

Hot Deals for June

Note: Please see my Advertiser Disclosure

Capital One Venture X Business Card
Earn 150,000 Miles Sign Up Bonus
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Earn 100,000 Points
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Earn 75,000 Miles!
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Earn 75,000 Miles
Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Earn $750 Cash Back
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Earn 120,000 Membership Reward® Points

Recent Posts

  • JetBlue Madrid
    The JetBlue Mosaic Challenge And Why I Can’t Pass It Up June 22, 2025
  • PLAY Airlines Iceland
    Southwest’s (Possible) European Expansion Another Misstep June 22, 2025
  • hot air balloon crash brazil
    Tragic: Shocking Footage Of A Fatal Hot Air Balloon Accident June 22, 2025
  • makeup artist meltdown Southwest flight
    Makeup Artist’s Viral Meltdown On Southwest Flight Is Anything But Glamorous June 21, 2025

Categories

Popular Posts

  • Qatar Airways Economy Class Breakfast
    Economy Class Breakfast On Qatar Airways June 7, 2025
  • Favorite Airline Commercials
    My 10 Favorite Airline Commercials June 15, 2025
  • Qantas Lounge Review Hong Kong
    Review: Qantas Lounge Hong Kong (HKG) June 14, 2025
  • Israel Flight Cancellations
    Major Carriers Extend Flight Cancellations To Israel: Here’s The List June 6, 2025

Archives

June 2025
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30  
« May    

As seen on:

facebook twitter instagram rss
Privacy Policy © Live and Let's Fly All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Live and Let's Fly with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.