Troubled airline files for bankruptcy

Low-cost airline Primera Air has finally run out of runway after a troubled year.

It ceased operations at midnight, just hours after its flight to Malaga from Birmingham Airport had taken off for the final time, and has filed for bankruptcy.

The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the airline is not part of the ATOL protection scheme, which only covers passengers booked on a package holiday.

A statement on the Primera Air website said “on this sad day we are saying goodbye to all of you” but provided little information for its customers. Birmingham Airport is yet to respond to a request for information and has no update on its website or social media platforms.

Primera Air had already announced it was to stop flying from Birmingham Airport at the end of October. It had five routes still operating, to Alicante, Tenerife, Las Palma, Reykjavik and Malaga. It had stopped flying to Palma and Barcelona from Birmingham last month.

In June Primera Air suspended its transatlantic flights to New York and Toronto from Birmingham Airport just a month after take-off. It had previously dropped its plans to fly four times a week from Birmingham to Boston.

Some of its problems stemmed from the late delivery of its long-haul A321neo aircraft. However it had said it was going to reinstate transatlantic services in 2019 once the aircraft were available.

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