On 28 January, UK airline Flybe declared bankruptcy, for the second time in three years, leaving about 75,000 passengers with no flight. After the news, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM have shown interest in the airline’s landing slots at Heathrow and Shiphol, according to a Telegraph report.
1. Landing slots
Flybe had seven pairs of take-off and landing slots at Heathrow Airport and another five at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, which airline groups Lufthansa and Air France-KLM are interested in taking over, according to a report from the Telegraph, although the airlines themselves have not confirmed yet.
The newspaper reported the groups are already in talks with administrators of Flybe, however, they would not be allowed to just take over the airport slots. The airlines would have to completely take over Flybe, its entire business, including its liabilities.
If, in the end, the slots remain unallocated, they will be returned to the airport authorities to redistribute.
2. Bankruptcy
The low-cost Flybe first declared bankruptcy in March 2020 because of the lost traffic due to the pandemic. Soon after, US firm Thyme Opco, part of the Cyrus Capital hedge fund, bought the airline, which was renamed Flybe Limited.
In April 2022, the airline resumed operations, hoping the surge in travel demand as countries reopened after the pandemic would be enough to keep it afloat. However, the plan to operate 530 weekly flights on 23 routes did not hold for long, Flybe declaring bankruptcy again on 28 January.
Saturday morning, all of the airline’s flights were cancelled, 277 of the 321 employees were laid off and about 75,000 passengers received last moment notices about their plans being affected. Chris Donelly told the BBC his flight was scheduled for 7:25 and he only received the notice about his cancelled flight at 3:07, when he was already on his way to the airport. Furthermore, the airline said it was unable to help passengers secure alternative travel arrangements, so they were left to manage by themselves.
