How much did Flybe pay for BA Connect?
Flybe haven’t exactly paid for it. In fact, British Airways has had to give them roughly 130m to take it away. So Flybe say we think we can turn it around – we are much more efficient, we can use better aircraft, we will be able to make a profit. But actually, there are 15 routes – and these are the ones that sadly from this morning are being cancelled – which are losing so much cash that not with the best will in the world will they be able to turn them around. So they are just going to close them down. Are there going to be any new routes to take their place? The big problem for Flybe and British Airways is the presence in the UK of Europe’s two biggest and most successful low-cost airlines – that is EasyJet and Ryanair. If they decide to set up a route, for example from Edinburgh to Zurich in the case of EasyJet or from Prestwick to Lubeck, which Ryanair says serves Hamburg, then there is very little that the regional airlines can do to compete because EasyJet and Ryanair’s costs ar
