FLYMAYBE
Flybe news – why has the airline cancelled flights and what happens now?
The airline carries 8 million passengers a year between 81 airports across the UK and Europe
STRUGGLING airline Flybe was forced to cancel flights, due to pilot shortages.
The sudden announcement left hundreds of angry passengers stranded at airports across the country. Here's what happened.
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Why did Flybe cancel flights?
Flybe cancelled 32 of its flights on Wednesday, April 3, from airports, including Belfast, Southampton, Birmingham and Aberdeen.
It said the cancellations were due to pilot shortages, as some took leave ahead of the busy Easter holiday period.
Specifically, the airline pinned the blame on, "seasonality, pilots’ end of leave year, Easter holidays, base restructuring and a shortage of pilots".
Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital bought Flybe earlier this year.
It was a deal which bailed out the struggling airline at a price that some shareholders criticised as far too cheap.
Flybe, which carries eight million passengers a year between 81 airports across Europe, apologised to affected customers.
But some fuming passengers slammed the airline, labelling it "Flymaybe" on Twitter.
One tweeted: "Yet another delay with Britain's worst and most unreliable airline #Flybe.... Get a grip."
Dozens of other customers complained under the hashtag #flymaybe.
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What happens now?
The airline has confirmed that operations are back to normal as of Thursday, April 4.
The company said it had put in place a number of contingency plans to minimise future disruption, but did not provide further details on what action it had taken.
It "sincerely apologised" on Twitter, saying it "recognised the impact" of the April 3 cancellations.
In a separate statement, Flybe said it will stop flying its Embraer 195 jets out of four airports in Britain, as part of a previously announced move to reduce its aircraft fleet.
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Flybe will continue to fly its 78-seat Bombardier Q-400 from Cardiff, Doncaster, Exeter and Norwich airports, but will end flights by the Embraer jets from these four airfields starting this winter.
UK and Ireland's largest union Unite said talks on proposals to lay off 38 pilots and 52 cabin crew were due to begin on April 10.
The redundancies are linked to Flybe's proposals to close Cardiff and Doncaster bases from October 1, which has 450 workers.
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