Flybe in crisis talks over its future - reports

Regional carrier Flybe is holding crisis talks over its future, including briefing government, as it seeks emergency funding, it was reported on Monday.

The airline, which is was acquired by a Virgin Atlantic-led consortium in March, said it did not comment on "rumour or speculation".

But multiple media reports from a range of outlets, including PA Media, said both the Department of Transport and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy had been briefed on the situation over the weekend, and that auditor EY had been put on notice to handle any administration process.

Sky News, which broke the story, said losses were mounting at the airline.

Exeter-based Flybe is Europe’s biggest regional airline and handles half of the UK’s domestic flights outside of London. Its assets were acquired in March after a consortium including Virgin Atlantic, Cyrus Capital and Stobart Group paid £2.8m for Flybe’s operations and £2.2m for the parent company. It was due to be renamed Virgin Connect later this year.

Should Flybe call in the administrators, in a move that would put more than 2,000 jobs at risk, it would be the second major airline failure in a matter of months, after Thomas Cook collapsed last September.

Flybe, which operates 75 aircraft and services more than 80 airports in the UK and continental Europe, tweeted: "Flybe continues to provide great service and connectivity for our customers ensuring they can continue to travel as planned. We don’t comment on rumour or speculation."

All flights appeared to be continuing as planned on Monday morning.

Both government departments declined to comment.