Birmingham Airport 'aggressively hiring ' redundant Flybe employees

A Birmingham Airport (BHX) spokesperson confirmed that they are “aggressively hiring ” redundant Flybe employees, writes Feron Jayawardene.

Simon Evans, head of corporate affairs and marketing at Birmingham Airport spoke about Flybe going into administration at an event organised by the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC).

Speaking during the Quarterly Business Report (QBR) launch for the fourth quarter, Simon said: “The Birmingham Airport along with Ryanair and Easyjet are aggressively hiring Flybe employees. So hopefully, no one will be unemployed for too long. ”

Regional airline Flybe ceased trading last month, with administrators confirming 276 employees have been made redundant.

Administrators were called in on 28 January, meaning all scheduled flights were cancelled, impacting around 2,500 passengers.

Flybe 's head office in Birmingham employed around 170 people.

Simon continued: “Flybe going into administration wasn 't much of a problem to the airport this time.

“Two years ago, they were 19 per cent of our business, but now they were only one per cent of our business.

“Part of the reason why Flybe failed this time was because times have moved on. All of their routes were between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and Amsterdam this time and they were competing against other airlines across all these routes including EasyJet. ”

A statement from the airline read: “We are sad to announce that Flybe has been placed into administration.

“David Pike and Mike Pink of Interpath have been appointed Administrators.

“Regretfully, Flybe has now ceased trading. All Flybe flights from and to the UK are cancelled and will not be rescheduled. ”

The QBR offers an up-to-date snapshot of the performance of the Greater Birmingham business community It is the most comprehensive, regular report of its kind in the region.

Underpinning the report is data gathered from quarterly surveys on key indicators such as sales, exports, investment intentions and the workforce.