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Flybe relaunch
Flybe today has confirmed that it will base the new airline at Birmingham rather than Exeter where it was based before. This will be the third iteration of Flybe after a consortium including Virgin bought it but failed to turn it around due to the pandemic.
Flybe will serve “key regions” across the UK and EU with operations scheduled to begin in early 2022. We don’t yet know what the routes will be. According to data specialists, Cirium, Flybe previously operated flights arriving at 70 airports, in 13 countries (one country accounting for the UK and the domestic flights operated by the carrier). I’m not expecting anything like that to restart initially.
Flybe CEO Dave Pflieger said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Birmingham Airport (BHX), the City of Birmingham, and the Mayor of West Midlands to make BHX the location of our new headquarters and first crew base. It was an ideal choice for us due to its great people and highly skilled workforce, its central UK location, and the fact that Birmingham Airport is a global travel hub where local and connecting customers have access to over 150 worldwide destinations. Today’s announcement marks the culmination of over 12 months of dedicated hard work by all involved, and it would not have been possible without the support of the CAA and the UK Government.”
Flybe’s entire fleet will be comprised of the De Havilland DHC-8-400, which is a shame as their Embraers were a much nicer flying experience. I am not a fan of Dash 8 turboprops at all. Apparently, it is down to their environmental credentials but I would strongly suspect this is more because they are cheap to run!
50% bonus on Avios with Avis
When you hire an Avis car (minimum car group C) at any participating destination worldwide, rent for 3 or more days, you will collect 50% more Avios – that’s 7.5 per £1 spent instead of the usual 5. You must book by 14 December for rentals from 2 January to 28 February 2022.
Executive Club Members also receive one free additional driver per rental, so you really can share the adventure. Eligible Rentals must be made using a British Airways/Avis Worldwide Discount (AWD) number: Gold members N744400; Silver members N744300; Bronze members N284300; Blue members N744100.
You can book through ba.com (post-login) and carhire-ba.com (with British Airways Executive Club passenger type selected) or with the British Airways Call Centre and will then automatically have the correct AWD embedded in the rental. To collect Avios the rental must include the British Airways Executive Club membership number of the first-named driver. The BAEC account number must be given at time of rental. This Avios bonus is not valid on Prestige, Van or Chauffeur Drive rentals worldwide.
HT: HfP
Accor points expiry extended
Accor previously confirmed that they would extend status until the end of 2022 but they did not say anything about points expiry. It turns out that they are extending their validity, but only for some members and according to their status. If you don’t have any status you will not get an extension. If you have Silver status like me the points expiry will be 15 December 2021 which is pretty useless, so you may want to do something with them now quickly.
Gold, Platinum & Diamond ALL members will have their points expiry extended until 15 December 2022. I’m about to hit Gold so I will see what happens to my expiry date then, but I suspect that it is going to stay the same sadly.
HT: Loyalty Lobby
3 comments
Flybe- it’ll NEVER work. I am an embittered former shareholder! I bought some shares then was horrified to see the management refuse a sale of the business before flogging it to Branson and a few others. We all felt it was a total scam at the time- something very fishy went on there. New group or not, this airline will need a radically different business model and I certainly wouldn’t buy a ticket. Tarnished by association.
Definitely agree they need to work out a different business model. Interesting what you say about associating with the name Flybe or as they used to be called Fly maybe – be interesting if people will assume the new airline will be the same.
I’ve been living in rural Warwickshire for many years so BHX is perfect for short haul. The old BE was dominant in terms of slots so I thought a little punt would be sensible. I used them on a few routes especially TXL as I have friends there. I quickly discovered they didn’t know what they wanted to be: a full service business airline or a LCA: they achieved neither. I think people will be very weary Michele. Shareholding annoyance aside, it’ll be interesting as a spectator to see what this is all about if they do launch.
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