Angry passengers stranded after airline’s shock collapse
FURIOUS British holidaymakers have been left stranded at airports across Europe after regional airline Flybmi collapsed, cancelling all its flights.
Thousands of passengers have had to find another flight home to the UK after the airline, which flew to 25 cities, filed for administration on Saturday.
There are also 1,500 people in the UK – including families planning to jet off during the half-term school break – who have been hit by the news.
The East Midlands Airport budget airline blamed the collapse on spiralling fuel costs as well as uncertainty created by Brexit. The firm said Brexit had already “seriously affected” its current trading and future prospects.
Some passengers only found out by text on their way to airports, while others were told as they walked to the boarding gate for their flight.
Durham University student Mary Ward is in Brussels and was due to fly back to Newcastle when she received a text from the airline informing her that all flights were cancelled.
She said yesterday: “I paid £130 for my flight. I don’t know how I am going to get back to Durham. I can’t afford any of the flights or the Eurostar.”
Hannah Price, from Portishead in Somerset, who has a clothing business, was also stranded in Brussels.
She faced a seven-hour journey back to Bristol yesterday, via Amsterdam.
She had arrived in the Belgian capital Grounded... Flybmi planes at Bristol Airport yesterday after the airline announced it went into administration on Saturday
last Monday and booked to return home on Flybmi today. She said she had heard nothing from the firm about refunding her £130 air fare.
Ms Price, 23, said: “If I am not in the UK my business can’t run. It’s highly frustrating. It could have had a catastrophic effect on my income.”
Civil engineer Danny McLaughlin, 46, from Buncrana in County Donegal, booked 14 flights with the airline for his job over seven weeks between the City of Derry Airport and London Stansted.
He said: “I’m stunned. It came as a
bolt out of the blue.” The airline operated flights on routes from Aberdeen, Bristol, City of Derry, East Midlands, London Stansted and Newcastle.
The 376-strong workforce spans the UK, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.
Some passengers claim they were still able to make bookings on Saturday a few hours before the airline announced it had collapsed.
In a Tweet on Friday, Flybmi also urged people to book their winter sports holiday to Munich with them.
Passenger Lee Roberston said: “So angry. They took my booking days ago.
They were planning this and should not have been taking bookings.”
Last year, the airline carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights.
Flybmi said in a statement: “We sincerely regret that this course of action has become the only option open to us, but the challenges, particularly those created by Brexit, have proven to be insurmountable.”
A spokesman for the Department for Transport described the situation as “very disappointing” and said the Government was focused on supporting affected passengers.