going nowhere these planes have been
grounded fly bees collapse ending its
promise it's faster than Road or rail
the terminal at its headquarters in
Exeter looking like a ghost town fly bee
has become Britain's first corporate
casualty as the effects of the corona
virus spread to the wider economy
leaving thousands stranded and 2,000
people having to say their goodbyes to
colleagues this is a very devastating
blow for Exeter for the southwest region
but also for air connectivity in the
United Kingdom as a whole a dreadful day
for the staff and the families affected
a lot of uncertainty for passengers
who've lost their flights and also
question marks as to how and why the
government let this happen
coronavirus has ravaged global air
travellers business users stay at home
and tourists avoid flying some airlines
telling us passenger numbers have
dropped 50% today the industry said that
after a hundred and thirteen billion
dollars could be lost in revenues
because of Corona with British Airways
Lufthansa easyJet and Ryanair or
grounding hundreds of routes but fly
Bea's problems go back a long way it
handled 40% of the UK's domestic flights
and prided itself on connecting nine
million passengers a year across British
towns and cities like Southampton Exeter
and Newcastle
but it struggled to stay competitive and
now coronavirus has proven the final
straw
just two months ago transport secretary
Grant Shapps declared he was delighted
the government could step in to rescue
the airline today in the House of
Commons the government's message was
very different unfortunately in a
competitive market companies do fail and
it is not the role of government to prop
them up but there was criticism that the
government was falling short on its own
commitment to level up and boost
prosperity in the regions the company
had wanted a hundred million pound loan
from government as well as a promise to
reform Airport taxes in next week's
budget out of 120 of fly these routes 88
are not flown by any other airline with
insiders claiming many are a vital
public service for the government to be
taken seriously in its pledge to level
up the reasons it really does need to
tak take urgent action to improve the
connectivity and resilience of our
transport infrastructure not just in
this region but in all of the United
Kingdom's left behind and peripheral
regions fly bees demand heaps more
pressure on the new chancellor who is
hoping to make leveling up the
centerpiece of next week's budget lots
to get on with thanks very much
he was going to be the good news
Chancellor launching the biggest
investment spending spree in 40 years
and rewarding labor convert EES but
three weeks into the job and rishi cynic
has found himself with an embarrassing
failure on his hands and a global
economic crisis knocking on the door
this week the government said that one
in five people may have to stay home
from work today HSBC the latest to ask
employees to work remotely with
companies across most industries bracing
themselves for a supply chain shock many
are hoping for emergency measures
governments need to step in they need to
cut taxes and to spend more particularly
targeted spending to help businesses and
individuals who might be adversely
affected by the coronavirus some
economists believe that inside the
Treasury that Dustin got battle plans
from the 2008 financial crisis including
offering loan guarantee
he's and puzan company taxpayers the
package could be worth five billion
pounds in a budget that is already
testing the limits of the government's
own spending rules that will all come
too late for Flybe but it's unlikely to
be the last corporate failure brought on
by the mounting impact of the corona
virus in the chaos dreams of solving
Britain's deep-seated economic
inequalities risk being grounded too
well some regional airports have been
hit particularly hard by the demise of
fly B at airports like Southampton and
Cardiff it was responsible for the vast
majority of business our reporter Anna
Pappas at Belfast George best City
Airport where fly B was responsible for
77 percent of the flights ano a big blow
there well yeah the routes that fly B
often did were the ones in poorly
connected areas and no more is that
apparent than here in Northern Ireland
where the only way to get to the rest
the UK with any speed is by air
politicians here point out that
overnight they've lost 25 percent of
connectivity via the air and at this
Airport in central Belfast ground staff
have been milling around all day in an
almost empty Airport 82 flyby flights
were meant to leave here today the chief
executive here said he was unsurprised
that the coronavirus have had such a
devastating effect on an already
weakened airline he said last month in
February they'd already noticed a nine
percent drop in passengers which they
put down to the coronavirus obviously
this month after today's news they're
going to notice even more they said that
the government needs to take action if
they're serious about helping the
regions for Northern Ireland regional
connectivity is absolutely vital you
cannot do a day's business by any other
means than air travel so I spoke this
morning to our first and Deputy First
Minister I spoke and dear Secretary of
State and I've emphasized that it is
absolutely vital that the government
move on air passenger duty to stabilise
the industry and to make sure regional
connectivity is maintained
of course when an airline goes under a
whole region is affected we spoke to
somebody in the hospitality industry
that said businesses had already been
canceling conferences after the warning
shots from fly B in January because of
fear that what happened today would
happen and that they wouldn't be able to
get here other businesses like the
construction industry which rely on
connectivity to the rest of the UK said
they'd already been under pressure in
the last year or so we've got Bragg's it
and the particular problems that causes
here for Northern Ireland
we've got coronavirus we've a whole
series of all our challenges and they're
on top of that we have 25% of our
connectivity with the rest of the UK
lost overnight this government is
promising us a bridge between here and
the rest of the UK this airline is our
bridge this is our motorway this is our
rail Lane we don't have any of those
other connections well some good news
here two of the routes that fly B were
serving have already been stepped in by
another airline and the chief executive
here says have been working on with
other airlines in the recent months to
try and make sure that they're not
without these routes for very long and
he says he hopes to announce more in the
coming weeks and with that he hopes some
of the jobs that have been lost here
today will come back to the area thanks
very much onion earlier I spoke to Brian
struttin from the British Airline Pilots
Association and I put at him that surely
the collapse of fly beam was somewhat
inevitable I don't accept that actually
I know that some other people in the
industry have said that almost trying to
force fly be out of business sadly but I
don't see it that way and in January the
government didn't see it that way either
that the government said there's enough
of business proposition here an
important one for the country that we
would help to make fly B survive but
they've done a u-turn since then which
is why fly bees gone into administration
do you think the government should have
thrown more money at the airline no they
didn't need to throw money at it what
they said in January was that they would
support a competitive loan and they
would help with air passenger duty which
is the special tax that airlines have to
pay that would have been sufficient I
think to
the owners putting their money into the
into the Flybe pot as well that would
have been good enough to keep fly be
operating their a new business plan they
could have followed I I really would
like to know why the government changed
his mind so that's interesting having
decided to help the airline
controversially at the end of last year
they they're basically not here to help
you now
I'll have the airline now what do you
think motivated them to change their
mind I don't know I think they've sort
of tried to pin that on the effect of
the coronavirus but I'm looking at the
change in the senior ministers that were
involved there's been a change of
Chancellor between those two those two
events there's been a change of business
secretary between those two events maybe
it's more to do with that than it is to
do with anything else but I think we do
need to have the answers because one day
government's going to support fly be
because this regional connectivity is
important the economy another day no
we're not we're walking away from it but
considering the fact that all other
airlines at the moment with this
coronavirus are struggling why should
the government at this stage help fly
baby well I think a couple of reasons
really first and foremost is the reason
the government gave itself which is
there are important public service
routes that fly B operates that no other
way that anybody can provide the
transport for that fly B supports a
number of regional airports airports
like ardath's Southampton Belfast City
Exeter really are you know virtually all
fly B and there will be no connectivity
without without them in place I think
also as well all industry is going to be
looking at the effects this summer I
know that in a V Asian a number of
airlines are already taking cost-cutting
steps and fly B could have done the same
there's no reason why I've survived it's
also possible as a dawn that if the
government had decided to help fly B
again in these more dire straits than
they were at the end of last year then
other airlines like virgin and British
Airways could say well
what about us we're also losing
passengers and market share because of
this virus and they can't help everyone
oh well no they can't but what what the
government was looking at was not giving
a three cash handout to fly a baby but
arranging a commercial loan relaxing air
passenger duty and actually every single
airline has asked for past for the same
relaxation of air passenger duty my
point is that there was plenty there
that could have been done viably to keep
fly be going or at least substantial
parts of it and why wasn't that looked
at when government was changing its mind
about the general support for the
company so let me ask you finally Brian
do you think there's a conspiracy here
between some of the other airlines fly
B's competitors and the government to
basically sacrifice you on the altar of
this virus and indeed a business in in
trouble in order to get over you know
get over some of these routes themselves
well I don't have any evidence of a
conspiracy as such but it is interesting
that other airlines were coming out
publicly saying that fly B should go
under and threatening to challenge the
government's decision that it made in
January and then the government does a
u-turn on it but so you're agreeing that
proposition no rock but rather than
guesswork I think we should have answers
and I think government should explain
why it changed his mind
Brian thank you very much indeed thank
you