British Midland Regional Limited (trading as flybmi) announced (16-Feb-2019) it has ceased operations and is filing for administration. Details include:
- flybmi operated 17 regional jet aircraft on routes to 25 European cities;
- All services were cancelled, effective 16-Feb-2019;
- The airline handled 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights in 2018;
- flybmi employed a total of 376 employees based in the UK, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.
flybmi stated: "The airline has faced several difficulties, including recent spikes in fuel and carbon costs, the latter arising from the EU's recent decision to exclude UK airlines from full participation in the Emissions Trading Scheme. These issues have undermined efforts to move the airline into profit. Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe and lack of confidence around bmi's ability to continue flying between destinations in Europe... Against this background, it has become impossible for the airline's shareholders to continue their extensive programme of funding into the business, despite investment totalling over GBP40 million in the last six years". [more - original PR]