The airline has refused to comment on whether it needs emergency financing
By Thomas Ansell
As reported by numerous sources, the future of daily flights between Groningen Airport Eelde (in Drenthe) and London Southend might be in danger.
Flybe, which operates the route, is the largest regional airline in Europe but has had several years of financial trouble. Both Sky News and the Financial Times (UK) are reporting that the accounting firm EY has been put on standby to assist with any imminent administration of Flybe group.
The airline put out a statement on Monday saying “Flybe continues to provide great service and connectivity for our customers whilst ensuring they can continue to travel as planned. We don’t comment on rumour or speculation.”
In 2019 a consortium of Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Air (which operates the Eelde-London flights), and Cyrus Capital bought out Flybe to stop it from going bankrupt. The consortium, called Connect Airways, payed around 5 million pounds sterling for the company.
Flybe will continue to fly in and out of Eelde for the foreseeable future, and has made no warnings of any imminent plans to cut the route. The airline has been flying between Eelde and London since 2014, and celebrated its three-hundredth flight in 2018.
It’s been a bruising few months for Eelde, with the airline Nordica pulling out of a Copenhagen-Eelde route at the end of 2019, profit warnings, and whispers that the Provinces of Drenthe and Groningen might pull out of Groningen Airport Eelde.
Image via Flickr user Alec Wilson
