Flybe’s collapse

Coronavirus as a ‘smokescreen’

IT IS clear that the economic impact of coronavirus has the potential to trigger a global downtown, hence why Rishi Sunak, the new Chancellor, is having to revise his financial forecasts ahead of next week’s Budget.

Yet it is also slightly disingenuous for Flybe executives to blame the spread of the disease for the collapse of the regional airline. This is a smokescreen. The firm was struggling before the word ‘coronavirus’ became common parlance and its flights from Doncaster Sheffield Airport were grounded last October.

This stems, in part, from its decision to expand its operations into Europe, and take on rivals like Ryanair, rather than focus on the future of Flybe’s domestic routes here – including services in and out of Leeds Bradford Airport.

And while the impact on passengers, and Flybe staff, should not be underestimated, Ministers will be hoping that airlines are still in a position to fill the void once the coronavirus crisis has passed and become less disruptive on the travel and tourism industries.

After all, a government committed to ‘levelling up’ the country, and ensuring that Britain is less dependent on London for jobs and prosperity, will be making sure that the more distant parts of the UK, like the South-West, Scotland and also Northern Ireland, are still served by airlines.

For, while environmentalists might baulk at this, the fact of the matter is that these are deprived areas which are already poorly served by public transport and are not in a position to wait for rail improvements, HS2 or the bridge that Boris Johnson now wants to build across the Irish Sea.