A passenger jet (Image: Getty)
Five airlines have suffered financial difficulty, leaving holidaymakers facing cancelled holidays and flights. The vast majority of carriers used by British travellers – including British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Virgin Atlantic and Wizz Air – remain financially stable.
However, some airlines have been slashing services while others have pushed up ticket prices to manage rising costs. Meanwhile, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has cautioned that Europe could exhaust its jet fuel supplies in as little as six weeks.
The most recent casualty is Spirit Airlines, which is ceasing operations after failing to secure a $500m (£368m) rescue package from the Trump administration.
The low-cost carrier had been negotiating with the US government regarding a bailout that would have prevented its closure.
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Ascend Airways – which operates flights in the UK – has gone into liquidation.
Ascend Airways provides aircraft for other airline operators, with previous clients including Oman Air, Air Sierra Leone and Tui Airways.
An insider told The Sun: “It’s gone bust today, we got the news this afternoon. We’ve all been given the letters that it’s all going into liquidation.
“It’s to do with the economy, we couldn’t get contracts, the UK is a lot more expensive than Europe,” the insider said. “The fuel situation had a massive effect on it as well.”
Spirit had been negotiating with the US government regarding a rescue package to prevent its collapse. However, following the breakdown of talks, the airline announced on its website that it had “started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately”.
All forthcoming flights have been cancelled.
Spirit Airlines (Image: Getty)
Channel Islands-based carrier Blue Islands, which operated regular services to English airports, grounded its entire fleet after going bust.
Blue Islands confirmed on Friday that it had ceased trading after more than two decades, cancelling all existing bookings.
Eastern Airways also collapsed on 28 October.
The airline had served destinations across the UK, Ireland and Europe, and operated Scottish government-backed routes for residents in the northernmost part of the British mainland.
However, following the termination of a contract to operate services for Dutch carrier KLM, the airline was left with a cost base that was “too high to be sustainable”, according to administrators.
Play Airlines also confirmed it was shutting down in September.
Play was founded in 2019 by two former Wow Air executives following that airline’s collapse, and began flying on 24 June 2021.
Its business model closely mirrored that of Wow Air – and indeed the national carrier Icelandair, which continues to thrive.
