UK coronavirus: Sixth Brit dies as Covid-19 infections hit 373 March 10, 2020 A sixth person has died after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, as the number of confirmed cases rises to 373. The patient, who was in their eighties and had underlying health conditions, was treated by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said it appeared that the virus was [...]
Covid-19: Qantas to cut international capacity by 25 per cent due to fall in passenger demand March 10, 2020 Australian airline Qantas will cut its global capacity by a quarter over the next six months as part of a package of measures to deal with the plunge in passenger demand caused by coronavirus. In addition, Australia’s largest airline has delayed an order for 12 Airbus A350-1000 planes while the outbreak continues. Qantas will also [...]
British Airways and Ryanair cancel all flights to Italy as travel lockdown extended to whole country March 10, 2020 British Airways (BA) and Ryanair have cancelled all of their flights to and from Italy today after the entire country was placed into travel lockdown as coronavirus continued to ravage its population. BA, which operates 60 routes to the country, had previously cancelled a raft of flights to the north of the country, but has [...]
Ryanair makes further cuts to Italian flights as travel lockdown begins March 9, 2020 Ryanair has announced more cuts to its flight schedules to and from Italy today after the Italian government put the north of the country into lockdown yesterday. As of tomorrow, the budget airline is suspending all Italian domestic flights to and from Milan’s Bergamo and Malpensa airports, as well as those from Parma and Treviso, [...]
Flybe’s last flight: How Europe’s biggest regional airline met its demise March 9, 2020 At 8.30pm on Wednesday evening, passengers were still being ushered onto planes bearing the indigo livery of Flybe. Half an hour later, members of the cabin crew on one of its last ever flights, from Manchester to Belfast, were crying, having just lost their jobs. “Staff in tears. This is so grim,” tweeted Holly Hamilton, [...]
Budget 2020: Pilots call for air passenger duty tax suspension March 6, 2020 The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) has called on chancellor Rishi Sunak to suspend air passenger duty in next week’s budget to protect the struggling aviation industry and avoid another airline collapsing like Flybe. Global airlines have been severely damaged by the coronavirus outbreak, with international trade body IATA predicting a 24 per cent reduction [...]
Flybe infected by aviation sector’s malaise March 6, 2020 As ministerial tweets go, the mid-January proclamation by the business and transport secretaries that Flybe’s future had been salvaged will surely endure as among the most ill-judged of Boris Johnson’s government. Barely 54 days later, Flybe has become just another corporate carcass, joining Monarch and Thomas Cook among the airlines which failed to cope with [...]
Flybe can’t blame Coronavirus for its long term failings March 5, 2020 In the early hours of this morning, Coronavirus claimed its first airline as Flybe finally bit the dust. Just as with the thousands of human victims worldwide, it is the vulnerable who are most at risk, and this was no different. They failed because they encountered multiple crises, each amplified by their failure to mitigate the [...]
Flybe passenger Q&A: What should I do if I was due to travel with Flybe? March 5, 2020 Any Flybe passenger will not be able to fly after the budget airline collapsed into administration in the early hours of this morning. It failed to obtain a £100m loan from the government to stay afloat. The airline issued a statement saying that “all flights operated by Flybe have been cancelled with immediate effect”. But [...]
Flybe collapse: Passengers told not to travel as 2,000 jobs at risk March 5, 2020 British airline Flybe has collapsed into administration to leave 2,000 jobs at risk after it failed in its bid to secure a £100m government loan. The budget regional carrier blamed 2020’s coronavirus outbreak for draining customer demand for flights, and warned passengers not to travel to airports. Administrator EY has taken charge of the business [...]