What a tremor in the English sky with the disappearance of the British airline Flybe, which announced on Saturday 28 January that it had ceased operations and cancelled all its flights.

“We are sad to announce that Flybe has been placed into (court) administration,” the company tweeted.

“Flybe is now ceasing operations. All Flybe flights to and from the UK are cancelled and will not be rescheduled,” it added.

It’s a blow to the British economy and the British job market, but Flybe was suffering from the pandemic, so the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has asked passengers who booked flights on Flybe not to go to the airport, “as all Flybe flights are cancelled,” observed Paul Smith, head of the CAA, in a statement.

“It is always sad to see an airline (go into) administration (court) and we know that Flybe’s decision to cease operations will be distressing for all its employees and customers,” he said.

The low-cost airline, Flybe had only resumed flights in April, after going bankrupt in 2020 due to the pandemic that dealt a blow to much of the airline industry.

Flybee was a successful company in the early 2000s and was often the leader in domestic flights in the UK, operating up to 530 flights a week, including from London’s Heathrow Airport, to UK and foreign cities such as Amsterdam and Geneva.

Unfortunately, following the 2020 lock-up, Flybe went bankrupt. Flybe’s assets were bought by Thyme Opco, a company linked to the American investment fund Cyrus Capital.