DOZENS of flights have been cancelled at Birmingham Airport with jobs set to be lost as airline Flybe called in administrators.
The regional airline has collapsed as demand for plane journeys plummeted.
Flybe, based in Exeter, uses Birmingham airport as a major hub.
All domestic flights from Birmingham are cancelled today and Flybe advised passengers not to travel to Birmingham International.
The airline came close to collapse in January, but the government deferred tax payments of £100 million.
Yesterday (March 4), Flybe told the government it was rapidly running out of cash.
Around 2000 jobs are at risk if the airline cannot be saved.
In a letter to the airline’s staff, chief executive Mark Anderson said: “Despite every effort, we now have no alternative – having failed to find a feasible solution to allow us to keep trading.
“I am very sorry that we have not been able to secure the funding needed to continue to deliver our turnaround.”
A spokeswoman for Birmingham Airport said: “It is with regret that Flybe has entered administration and ceased trading with immediate effect. Passengers due to travel with the airline should not come to the airport.”
Paul Faulkner, chief executive of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said Flybe has played a ‘key role’ for decades in the regional airport network and its strategic significance for Birmingham Airport in particular.
“It’s now vital that the Government does everything it can to work with Birmingham International to help re-establish alternative routes with different airlines.
“With the onset of coronavirus, it’s likely to be a challenging few months across the board.”
Birmingham resident Peter Willett, whose girlfriend Moa was due to visit the second city next week, said: “Of course my main thoughts are with all the impacted staff.
“But on a personal level, a Flybe route between Birmingham and Aberdeen made a long-distance relationship possible.
“With no other airlines servicing that route, the only alternative is a very long train.”
Mr Willett added that he hopes other airlines pick up the route to avoid being ‘cut off from the rest of the UK’.
UPDATE: Airline Loganair says it will take up 16 routes formerly flown by Flybe including Aberdeen routes to Belfast, Birmingham, Jersey and Manchester.
