steveholt

From Lucky (per a e-mail circulating):

E-mail can't be confirmed as legitimate as of yet, but obviously concerning if you have a Primera Air flight coming up.

Ldnn1

Well this is the least surprising news of 2018.

andrew3000

Statement is up on their website: https://primeraair.com/about-us/corp...es-operations/

Deltus

Any idea how many passengers they'll have downroute? I'm assuming this will be a much smaller-scale rescue than Monarch...?

Often1

Is there even a suggestion of a rescue?

usbusinesstraveller

They only had 5 A321neo's and 2 738's 2 73Gs and 8 738's, so compared to Monarch (35 aircraft at closure) considerably fewer pax will be stranded. And I'm not sure there's going to be any rescue flights organized by the CAA this time. Primera wasn't a UK airline, and most Monarch passengers were ATOL protected, and so the ATOL fund covered the rescue.

On TATL they flew STN to BOS and EWR, and CDG to EWR, YYZ and (seasonal) BOS. They were all around 1-2x weekly.

ajeleonard

Fallen off my chair in shock....

Wow Air next, then Norwegian. As soon as they run out of new suckers to lend them money or invest equity in them

It's currently the top of the economic cycle, global passenger numbers are booming and legacy airlines making record profits. Yet these guys.....

Often1

... are selling TATL tickets for as little as $99.

Would love to see the PRASM on average long-haul route.

corporate-wage-slave

And here is the BBC's report:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45712063

Summary: A budget airline that began offering long-haul flights from UK airports including Stansted to the US earlier this year has collapsed. Primera Air said it was ceasing all operations at midnight on Monday after 14 years of operations. Two flights to Washington and New York due to leave Stansted on Monday night have been grounded. The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that Primera had ceased operations. Three Primera flights were in the air on Monday night, including one from Birmingham to Malaga, according to Flight Radar.

I was actually trying to get on a Primera service from Europe to North America but was unable to find a date that worked. Unlike Wow and Norwegian, they were fairly stealthy with their charges. So seat selection on Wow can be done for under US$10, but you'd be looking at US$30 plus on Primera. Primera's handbaggage only fare had a baggage allowance of 33cm by 25cm by 20cm, so a single large purse, which is the smallest I've come across on longhaul. Anything larger was charged at something like $50. So the fares, after almost any add-on, were non competitive against Wow, Icelandic or Norwegian. Or even oneworld's Basic fares.

williamn78

I kept looking at their STN-YYZ fares which were direct cheap on the face of it but in reality if you wanted a bag and an assigned seat were the same as a major carrier, just with Stansted thrown into the mix. Still a shame to lose some competition though.

Deltus

Well, I assume all the downroute passengers will still want to come home again at some point, even if they can't have the pleasure of flying back with Primera Air. I'd say they need rescuing, even if that's just them booking themselves onto existing scheduled flights with other carriers, rather than anything organised by the CAA.

And given the typical Primera Air passenger is probably a less experienced traveller than the average FT'er, and might not be particularly comfortable booking a last-minute one-way flight from a foreign airport, "rescue" might not be far off... But perhaps I'm generalising here.

flatlander

What's the state of play these days with surviving airlines offering reasonable-price space-availabel (like half a discount return fare, not a walk-up YY fare) one way flights to passengers of collapsed airlines?

Often1

That was an old DOT program. Not even a rule. It applied only to US carriers and participants agreed to sell a new ticket to the passenger for the price of the old ticket (segment).

Today, one hopes that most passengers used a credit card issued in a country which protects the consumer through one or more statutes, effectively assuring the passenger a refund of the fare paid.

The problem is that if one paid $99 for a ticket, even if that is refunded, a quick check shows that the cheapest walkup ticket for the remaining services today NYC-LON are $2,774. While there may be a chorus here about how one need not pay that much, that is the listed fare which will be quoted to one who walks up to a BA/AA counter and asks to purchase a ticket.

I fully appreciate that ULCC's can cut expenses and thus prices through a variety of maneuvers. But, there are limits and Primera, along with WOW, and Norwegian may well be in trouble unless further bailed out.

GetSetJetSet

My buddy and his gf were set to fly them soon. I assume they will just get a refund? Any way for them to demand they be rebooked by Primera on another airline so they can avoid the last second gouge of paying for a real airline?

Mwenenzi

Primera Air effectively now does not exist. They (the liquidators)will not have money to buy tickets on other airlines. Hope your friends paid with a credit card or/and have comprehensible travel insurance.