Primera Air

[Ray Finkle]

So, let's just abandon you with no suggestions as to how you might be able to make a claim!!

It's what they have done from day one 🙁

 

[Brum X]

WOW, but i am not surprised at all.

Feel sorry for the crew, however BHX dodged a bullet with this one. Can you imagine how we all would be feeling today if they continued and 1 year to the day since Monarch went bust.

That is a scary thought which i cannot even imagine. 🙁

On BBC NEWS right now

 

[jfy1999]

Ray, echo your views regarding the staff losing their jobs. It’s a year to the day that Monarch went bust.

There are similarities between Primera and Monarch too - both airlines were going through a major transition in their business model with substantial orders for brand new aircraft types as well as long haul ambitions.

I remember being full of optimism on this day last year. Primera had announced EWR and BOS and there was the thrilling prospect of Monarch being taken over by another airline (Norwegian?) and starting a long-haul base from BHX using the MAX to US east coast cities and ex-airberlin A330's on longer routes.

Even if all that had come about, Monarch could easily have gone the same way as Primera after one year of the MAX.

If Jet2 have no interest in long haul, I don't blame them. The struggles of Norwegian and WOW and the bankruptcies of airberlin and Primera all point to the conclusion that low-cost long haul is incredibly hard to get right without support from another airline.

The British regions could do with the likes of a Eurowings or LEVEL where the larger airline group would be able to absorb any losses made on thinner routes.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Can you imagine how we all would be feeling today if they continued and 1 year to the day since Monarch went bust.

I really feel for the ex Monarch crew who had found positions with Primera and are now facing the whole thing again 🙁

 

[Brum X]

And i was due to fly with them on Friday to BCN. I was looking forward to trying out this new airline and showing you around there aircraft.

I feel sad everybody involved with this airline, passengers and crew.

🙁

 

[Brum X]

I really feel for the ex Monarch crew who had found positions with Primera and are now facing the whole thing again 🙁

Truly awful Ray

 

[58terminus]

Sorry but lots of crocodile tears here..Not long ago when a lot of people,including myself.were looking forward to this inevitable conclusion.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Sorry but lots of crocodile tears here

Not from me.

I couldn't give a monkeys about the airline, as far as I am concerned they are now reaping what they have sown.

I do however feel very sorry for all of the staff that are facing unemployment, many of them for the second time in as many years and through no fault of their own.

They and they alone have my thoughts.

And i was due to fly with them on Friday to BCN. I was looking forward to trying out this new airline and showing you around there aircraft.

I'm off to Malaga in three weeks with Jet2, I came so close to booking with Primera.

The CAA have published advice on their website for anyone with a booking.

https://www.caa.co.uk/News/Advice-to-UK-consumers-on-Primera-Air-ceasing-operations/

 

[Brum X]

Sorry but lots of crocodile tears here..Not long ago when a lot of people,including myself.were looking forward to this inevitable conclusion.

Bit harsh 58terminus tbh. 🤐

 

[Ianbutty]

No surprise. I hope that for once and for the sake of the staff and those who have booked with them that this is the one announcement from Primera that leads to nothing.

Alas. It was obvious something was up. Airbus would only delay aircraft delivery of there was strife at the factories or the inability of a purchaser to pay.

Only bright strip of light is that all those problems were not the doing of the region and BHX.

Hope the staff find new jobs and the passengers accommodated.

 

[58terminus]

Bit harsh 58terminus tbh. 🤐

I don.t think so. I have been consistent in my criticism of them and have always indicated that this is how i believed it would end up with them not seeing next summer. I doubt i am the only one who thought that. Unfortunately the staff were always going to be a casualty of their employers crazy ambition. Its no good,and this is not aimed at anybody personally, posting 3 months ago or whatever that this airline should not be allowed to operate and then posting condolences to the staff when it isn't.

 

[Brum X]

I don.t think so. I have been consistent in my criticism of them and have always indicated that this is how i believed it would end up with them not seeing next summer. I doubt i am the only one who thought that. Unfortunately the staff were always going to be a casualty of their employers crazy ambition. Its no good,and this is not aimed at anybody personally, posting 3 months ago or whatever that this airline should not be allowed to operate and then posting condolences to the staff when it isn't.

However tonight it is all about the crew and the passengers who are stranded so lets put all the other stuff to one side for another evening.

 

[58terminus]

However tonight it is all about the crew and the passengers who are stranded so lets put all the other stuff to one side for another evening.

Its an aviation discussion forum Brum X. An airlines gone bust.Nobody is dead.

 

[GliderPilot]

Lets not argue between ourselves guys come on?

Primera going bust is reflective of whats happened to their business over the past couple of months. But when i do look at it sympathetically i do feel sorry for them.

An ambitious airline looking to make their mark in the long haul market, purchasing brand new aircraft after a decade of successful short haul operations

Launched a base from an airport that was supposed to be a money pot but needed time to mature to this state (NAMEDLY BHX) alongside London and CDG

Efforts hampered by late deliveries of new aircraft, which left the requirement to ‘hire’ aircraft replacements (which themselves seemed to go tech more often than they were flying) which as Primera themselves said cost them millions of euros.

Then a customer services department that saw no more complaints then a few unsatisfied malaga holidaymakers was inundated with complaints over a mass of what must’ve been thousands of passengers that had received flight cancellations, that must be a complete headache and itself would’ve cost more money and resources

Primera withdrawing from BHX and then announcing bases from a selection of european hubs now put into perspective seemed like a last minute cry for help. Routes that “couldn’t” fail in the hope they could start to get some financial stability

I think then the last straw must’ve been a reputation now in tatters catching up with them.

I know BHX got done dirty here, but looking at the wider picture i dont care. Primera as a company were too ambitious. And ambition is a great trait, and therefore is horrible to loose.

My point of this post is its easy to say oh its well deserved, but is it really?

Were the customer service reps ignoring people, or was it that they didn’t have the resources to respond to that many people at once.

My feelings are with every member of Primera staff now out of employment, especially those who were in the exact same seat only a year ago after Monarch’s demise.

Sad day in the aviation industry once again

I hope they all quickly find employment with another airline or position in the industry

 

[BHXsupporter]

...and two articles from Flightglobal this morning. Nothing mentioned of the huge failures of customer support. With such poor planning in not being able to delay expansion ideals, they deserve to go to the wall. Now lots of lovely A321s about for others to fly us from BHX!

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/struggling-primera-air-to-cease-operations-452337/

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/a...es-before-realising-transatlantic-amb-452338/

 

[Jon Dempsey]

Not surprised.

Saw a few of their fleet in at Malaga on Sunday.

 

[Jerry]

Now lots of lovely A321s about for others to fly us from BHX!

Depends who owns the aircraft. If it's the parent company then maybe they might use them to start again.

 

[Ianbutty]

Airline analyst Alex Machetes quote on the BBC sums it up: "airline is travelling a bit too fast in terms of their expansion with a fleet of that size"

The fact that it took us about 20 pages and a billion posts to work out who this mysterious TATL airline was when the hint was first dropped (see routes and rumours, ad nauseam) provided the first hint and questions about the sustaianbility of the services and airline.

But they tried. And for that I say takk.

 

[rollo]

Anyone who wants to take on BA transatlantic needs a real good plan, resources and deep deep pockets, they had none of those and looking back the announcement of Paris,Berlin Brussels etc smacked of desperation.Low cost long haul is a minefield it'll be interesting to see how Norwegian pan out as the have gone from a successful profitable short haul operation to a loss maker since introducing long haul and are under the cosh from BA. Level (IAG) etc and the alliance withAA at Heathrow and Gatwick. It usually ends in one way,
like everyone great sympathy for the staff, particularly the ex Monarch people but the top managment well thats a different story they lived the dream but produced a nightmare.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I can definitely understand the point made by 58T.

After the abysmal treatment of customers who gave Primera a chance and put their money where their mouth is (some who are regulars on here) many people were questioning just how long this organisation deserve to go on for. I have no sympathy for the airline or those who created this mess.

I still believe that the airline have now reaped exactly what they have sown but the sad reality is that the guys and girls at the front end are the ones left high and dry. There are reports of crews being stranded down route and having to pay for themselves to get home from NY, Toronto etc, I'd love to know if the senior Primera management are suffering in the same way!

Time to draw a line under the whole sorry saga and move on to the next one. This is BHX so it's only a matter of time 🙂