Budget airlines Ryanair and easyJet are fast-tracking the recruitment of staff from Flybe, which went into administration at the weekend with the loss of 277 jobs.
Ryanair has set up a fast-track recruitment process across all areas of its business including flight crew, cabin crew, engineers, ground staff and office staff, promising to “endeavour to get you back into employment as soon as possible”.
It said that employees should send in their CV with their Flybe job title and it will fast-track their application. “We are sure this is a difficult time for you and your families but we are here to help you get back into employment very quickly,” it said.
The High Court appointed administrators on 28 January, and a statement on the Flybe website said: “Flybe has now ceased trading and all flights from and to the UK operated by Flybe have been cancelled and will not be rescheduled.”
Aviation insolvency
EasyJet said it was not currently advertising for flight crew but it encouraged Flybe cabin crew to apply for around 250 vacancies at Luton and Gatwick airports.
Ryanair and easyJet’s fast-track Flybe recruitment means staff could be back in a job within weeks. EasyJet said cabin crew could start work in as little as 10 days and, for office staff, 14 days.
Flybe first collapsed in 2019 with the loss of 2,000 jobs, but it was relaunched in April 2022 from its new base at Birmingham airport. The airline primarily operated within the UK with a handful of flights to mainland Europe.
Unite national officer for civil aviation Oliver Richardson said: “The government has not learned the lessons from the original collapse of Flybe. It has failed to introduce the Airline Insolvency Bill, which would have allowed Flybe to continue to operate, avoiding passengers being stranded and staff losing their jobs in the middle of the night.
“In recent years the UK has seen the collapse of Monarch, Thomas Cook and Flybe twice; how many more airlines will be allowed to plunge into administration before the government introduces the measures needed to protect the UK’s aviation industry and its passengers?”
Pilots’ union Balpa’s general secretary Martin Chalk said: “Many of the staff of Flybe will have recently suffered the harrowing effects of one bankruptcy, and now they are being subjected to yet another.
“Balpa will not only support its members through this difficult time but will seek to work with the Department for Transport to improve the regulatory framework to avoid such sudden and precipitous events in the future.”
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