TedToToe

Per the reports circulating in the press, Flybe seem to be in trouble again. If they cannot be saved, would the legacy (LHR-EDI?) slots return immediately to BA?

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel...-a9280941.html

[QUOTE/]Sky News says the carrier is trying to secure additional funding – and that the accountancy firm EY is on standby to handle the possible administration of the Flybe Group. The government is said to be involved in negotiations to try to keep the airline aloft.[QUOTE/]

Airprox

Yes they are BA's slots.

Raffles

Those slots were available to anyone who wanted to start flights to a specific list of routes, although not clear if they are now timed out. After a certain period of running flights to somewhere on the list you were allowed to switch to another EU destination IIRC.

Waterhorse

I think those slots are available to anyone who wishes to operate them, and will only return to BA should they be unused for 3 seasons. So they may come back to BA but it will be a while.

Prospero

Quoting European Union regulation (EC) No 139/2004 – Merger procedure which deals with the acquisition:

• As a general rule, the slots obtained by a prospective entrant must be operated on the city pair(s) for which they have been requested… and cannot be used on another city pair unless the prospective entrant has operated them during at least six full consecutive IATA seasons (the ‘ulitisation period’).
• Once the utilisation period has elapsed, the prospective entrant would be entitled to use the slots… to operate services on any route connecting London with any other part of Europe.
• During the utilisation period, the prospective entrant shall not be entitled to transfer, assign, sell, swap or charge… any slots obtained...

Flybe entered the Heathrow market in March 2017 and at the end of winter 2020, it will have operated to Aberdeen and Edinburgh for six IATA seasons.

babats

Will that still be relevant next year?

NickB

[pedant mode]What you are quoting from is not Regulation 139/2004 but rather the Commission Decision on the IAG/BMI merger (case No COMP/M.6447) based on the Regulation.[/pedant mode]

Good question. Not sure what happens with competition decisions that affect primarily the UK market and/or UK-rest of the world market. Presumably the Decision remains in force as long as it is not withdrawn or amended even though you could argue that, after Brexit, it will no longer affect competition in the EU internal market (except for LHR-NCE but nobody stepped in BMI shoes on that route anyway). I take it that it might also conceivably depend on what is negotiated with respect to the future EU-UK relationship.

Prospero

The end of the winter 2020 is just three or so months away, so I suppose it’s a question of whether Flybe has sufficient liquidity to reach the finish line. Even if it does manage to continue operating, questions remain as to why an operator in such a perilous financial state was granted the remedy slots in the first place. I reckon the fate of theses slots may end up being decided by a court judge

UKtravelbear

All existing EU directives and ECJ court rulings will be incorporated into UK law as part European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 on exit day if they are not already part of UK law (such as EU261 is via a 2005 Statutory Instrument) and will remain so until repealed / rescinded by the UK Government / Parliament.

shefgab

So at the end of the current season (now less than 3 months away) can BE sell or lease those slots out? That surely in itself could save the company.

Jambon87

I have only flew Flybe once, and they are a fairly decent airline. They are an airline that is needed in the U.K. much like Loganair, to serve those low yield but much needed routes across the UK.

I think they should withdraw from Heathrow, I understand their need to have a presence their, but the slot lease along must be doing some damage. They should focus on being that regional airline the U.K. needs and take that market

NickB

I am aware of that but this has no relevance to the present issue. The question is not one of applicability of EU Law within the UK legal order (which is was the EU (WIthdrawal Act) 2018 deals with) but of continued application, as a matter of EU law, of a Commission Decision. This is entirely unaffected by what the UK Parliament decides. The fact that BA is a British company does not absolve it from its obligations to comply with EU competition law even after the UK leaves the EU. As long as the Commission decision remains a valid decision and is not withdrawn, BA remains bound by it. There might conceivably be a case for saying that the Commission should withdraw it after the end of the transitional period (subject to what might be decided in the future relationship negotiations) but until it does so, prima facie, the Decision remains valid and enforceable even after Brexit.

rapidex

I thought the end of winter 2020 was a year and 3 months away.

DorsetKnob

Low yield hardly fits a commercial model though does it? In their own right they are simply not profitable. If they were feeder flights it might make sense but Southampton to Glasgow is hardly a feeder to anywhere. I'm not sure how these flights can be made to work.

Cw novice

I believe that the GLA-SOU flights feed a lot of cruise traffic not to mention Royal Navy staff and contractors going between bases.