Virgin Atlantic and Stobart Group will take over Flybe

The Exeter based airline issued a profit warning last October. Flybe chief executive, Christine Ourmieres-Widener, pointed to higher fuel costs, currency fluctuations and Brexit uncertainty as the reasons for the profit warning. Today, it has been announced that a consortium consisting of Virgin Atlantic, Cyrus, and Stobart Group will rescue the airline and will buy it for £2.2 million. It will also inject a further £100 million in order to stabilise the airline’s operations.

Will Flybe continue to fly?

As of today, no route closures have been announced and experts believe that the airline is being bought in order to expand Virgin Atlantic’s brand recognition onto regional flights. Stobart Group will also take this opportunity to expand Southend Airport’s passenger tally. However, they have announced that Flybe, as a brand, will disappear.

Flybe will operate under the Virgin Atlantic name

After Richard Branson’s last attempt to enter the domestic route market failed, Virgin Atlantic is set to return to the regional business through taking over Flybe. It is expected that Virgin Atlantic will continue to utilise all of Flybe’s 78 aircraft and fly them to their 85 destinations.

Flybe describes itself as the largest regional airline in Europe and flies more than 8 million passengers per year in the UK and Europe.

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