Major trade union calls for Flybe to be nationalised amid fears for NI economy

Jackie Pollock, regional secretary of Unite the union, made the call as business groups warned of the fall-out from the implosion of the firm.

He said the attribution of blame to the coronavirus was mere “spin”, and that the collapse had been an avoidable management issue.

He said there were roughly 100 directly-affected employees in Northern Ireland, but that Flybe’s collapse will “threaten the jobs of all 500 workers in Belfast City Airport, including baggage handlers, check-in staff and workers in retail units”.

Beyond that, he said the collapse could stand to affect another 500 or so jobs in the wider economy.

“The impact of this in Northern Ireland, which already faces the prospect of an economically damaging hard sea border and suffers the absence of road or rail connections to Great Britain, is particularly sharp”, he said.

There were emotional scenes today as Flybe staff across the UK spoke of facing an uncertain future.

Catherine Densham, an English former member of cabin crew based at Exeter, echoed many of them when she tearfully told cameras she had worked as cabin crew for 13 years.

“We’re just all really sad, aren’t we? I’m just not sure what we’re going to do now,” she said.

“I thought that we’d be saved – but not this time. I’ll try and find something to pay the bills.”

However, the collapse will have ramifications far beyond the direct employees of the airline and the airports it serves.

Businesses in Belfast are now bracing themselves for a potential dip in trade.

Gerry Lennon, the chief executive of tourism outfit Visit Belfast, said tourists bring in about £395m in annual revenue for the city, and support 19,000 or so jobs.

He said: “Air connectivity has been a key factor in Belfast’s tourism renaissance over the past two decades, providing affordable access in to Northern Ireland from a range of regional and international destinations... to achieve our ambitious growth targets, the city and region need to see a continued uplift in air capacity.”

Meanwhile Janice Gault from the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation saud “the demise of Flybe is a worrying situation for the hotel sector”.