Flybmi ceases operations
Discussion
All flights cancelled. It's gone into administration citing spikes in fuel and carbon costs and uncertainty over Brexit.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47267901
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47267901
Shame really, quite liked British Midland although FlyBMI were a shell of their former selves. FlyBE are looking rather shaky just now, hopefully they won’t go the same way as not everyone wants/needs to fly in and out of the big hub airports and these two served that market quite well.
Eric Mc said:
Flybe has been recently bought by Virgin so may well survive.
Flybmi was the rump left over when BMI was bought by BA. BMI had, of course, once upon a time been British Midland Airways and before that, Derby Airways.
Nearly. Deal completes next week I think. Consortium of virgin Atlantic and stobart....Flybmi was the rump left over when BMI was bought by BA. BMI had, of course, once upon a time been British Midland Airways and before that, Derby Airways.
Eric Mc said:
Flybe has been recently bought by Virgin so may well survive.
I hope they survive, but I’m placing my bets on it winding up being the deal of the century for FlyBe’s Heathrow slots. They typically sell for 55-65 million USD per pair. Virgin have a 30% interest in the £2.2m takeover consortium, so 700k outlay. Plus their share of a promised 100m investment by the group (mostly through debt) which may or may not happen. It’s already fallen through once.
Testaburger said:
I hope they survive, but I’m placing my bets on it winding up being the deal of the century for FlyBe’s Heathrow slots.
They typically sell for 55-65 million USD per pair. Virgin have a 30% interest in the £2.2m takeover consortium, so 700k outlay. Plus their share of a promised 100m investment by the group (mostly through debt) which may or may not happen. It’s already fallen through once.
It fell through by necessity as the card companys were refusing to release funds due to the unstable future. The soloution was to sell the. Subsidiary operating company which would achieve certainty and got the money rolling in, together with some support from the purchasers, and did. It require shareholder approval.They typically sell for 55-65 million USD per pair. Virgin have a 30% interest in the £2.2m takeover consortium, so 700k outlay. Plus their share of a promised 100m investment by the group (mostly through debt) which may or may not happen. It’s already fallen through once.
The shareholders are not entirely happy at the assets of the business being sold out from under them and their choice is to sell at 1p in the pound or let the parent go under with no assets and hence 0p in the pound...
surveyor said:
It fell through by necessity as the card companys were refusing to release funds due to the unstable future. The soloution was to sell the. Subsidiary operating company which would achieve certainty and got the money rolling in, together with some support from the purchasers, and did. It require shareholder approval.
The shareholders are not entirely happy at the assets of the business being sold out from under them and their choice is to sell at 1p in the pound or let the parent go under with no assets and hence 0p in the pound...
What a mess. I can’t help but think this is a repeat of BA/BMI though. Pretend to transact a takeover, whilst having no desire to operate a small regional airline. They’ll gut it for the slots and move on. The shareholders are not entirely happy at the assets of the business being sold out from under them and their choice is to sell at 1p in the pound or let the parent go under with no assets and hence 0p in the pound...
Last year, I thought of starting a thread about my experiences flying with BMI to and from Bristol Airport.
The reliability of flights from Bristol was appalling!
I had become fed-up with the 3h drives along M4 to and from Heathrow, so as I could fly from Bristol (1.5h drive) with Lufthansa (via Munich or Frankfurt) to and from my assignments, I thought I would give that a go.
Only problem was that the flights to and from the German hubs were operated by BMI.
It was a litany of delayed or cancelled flights from Bristol, missed connections in Germany and late arrivals at my destinations.
Check-in staff at Bristol could not book alternative flights. Only one lady of a certain age, who was not always on duty, knew a magic phone number and could get the job done.
I feel sorry for the staff, who at check-in and in the air, were very patient, helpful and courteous.
But the company stank and after using them for six months, I chose never to fly with them again!
So back to 3h drives to and from Heathrow for me.
But my stress levels are much lower not having to cope with all the hassles created by BMI.
The reliability of flights from Bristol was appalling!
I had become fed-up with the 3h drives along M4 to and from Heathrow, so as I could fly from Bristol (1.5h drive) with Lufthansa (via Munich or Frankfurt) to and from my assignments, I thought I would give that a go.
Only problem was that the flights to and from the German hubs were operated by BMI.
It was a litany of delayed or cancelled flights from Bristol, missed connections in Germany and late arrivals at my destinations.
Check-in staff at Bristol could not book alternative flights. Only one lady of a certain age, who was not always on duty, knew a magic phone number and could get the job done.
I feel sorry for the staff, who at check-in and in the air, were very patient, helpful and courteous.
But the company stank and after using them for six months, I chose never to fly with them again!
So back to 3h drives to and from Heathrow for me.
But my stress levels are much lower not having to cope with all the hassles created by BMI.
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