It has been a sad but perhaps inevitable end to a brand whose origins stretch back to 1979 when Jersey European Airways was established.
This became British European in 2000 before being shortened to Flybe in 2002. It was to become one of the first casualties of Covid, collapsing in February 2020 as the pandemic loomed large on the horizon.
The earlier version of Flybe was too ambitious – it bought British Airways’ unprofitable regional arm, BA Connect, in 2002, thinking it could follow the likes of easyJet in building a loyal low-cost following, ordering a fleet of Embraer jets.
