Flybe cancellations point to wider issues at regional airline

'It’s my birthday today so cheers for ruining that,' said stranded passenger Maria Gould

Jet age? Flybe is shrinking its fleet of faster aircraft (Aiden Gill)

The future of Flybe has been brought into sharp focus by the the airline's wholesale cancellations.

The troubled regional airline has cancelled dozens of flights, blaming a combination of circumstances from pilots’ holiday allowances to the Easter holidays.

Maria Gould was booked to fly from Bordeaux to Birmingham, but was told by text that the flight was grounded.

With no information on the website about alternative flights, and no Flybe departure on the route for 48 hours, she booked a flight with Ryanair to Stansted.

She told The Independent: “We were told last night around 7.30pm, conveniently the same time the phone line shuts in the UK.”

Ms Gould tweeted Flybe to say: “Due to your website being unusable and your email/text re flight cancellation being devoid of any information, can you advise how I can get my full refund please?

“Also it’s my birthday today so cheers for ruining that.”

Leaked Flybe internal documents point to the financially troubled airline planning to “shrink to success”. They indicate plans to close its bases at Cardiff and Doncaster, which operate its biggest, fastest plane, the Embraer jet. No bookings are possible from 27 October onwards.

At its Exeter headquarters, jet services are also expected to stop at the end of summer 2019. The propeller planes that make up the majority of the Flybe fleet, Dash 8 Q400s, will continue to operate.

Cabin crew could be made redundant, while pilots are likely to be transferred.

Brian Strutton, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa), said: “We’re very disappointed to learn that Flybe has decided to close two of its bases (Cardiff and Doncaster), and scaling back at Exeter.

“This will come as a shock to all staff.

“Balpa will be working closely with the airline to ensure pilots’ jobs are protected and that this difficult process is handled as professionally as possible.”