Minutes:
The Chief Executive informed the Council that a request had been received from Ms. J. Cummings, Flybe employee, Mr. G. Brash, from Unite the Union, and Mr. C. Robb, British Airline Pilots Association, to address the Council in advance of the motion on Flybe Airline, which was being proposed by the Lord Mayor, Councillor D. Baker.
The Council approved the request and the deputation was welcomed to the meeting.
Mr. Brash stated that, from a Union prospective, the Flybe collapse had massive repercussions on Flybe staff and other workers throughout the supple chain. He referred to the impact on the Northern Ireland economy and that the Union was calling for the airport to come back into public service authority and asking for Councillors to lobby MLAs and local politicians to secure funding to allow that to happen. He referred to the cherry picking of the routes by other airlines and how this would not secure jobs and that an airline needed to be based at the City airport for this to happen.
Ms. Jennings advised that she had worked at Flybe for 19 years. She outlined the impact which the collapse of the airline would have personally on her and her colleagues financially, their lack of knowledge regarding the benefits system and moving forward. She then highlighted the number of workers who would be affected and the impact the collapse of Flybe would have on the passengers who used the service.
Mr. Robb highlighted the fact that Flybe had successfully provided a service to Northern Ireland for the past forty years. He referred to the Airport Operators Certificate, which was held by Flybe, which any airline needed to operate commercially and which would only be in place for less than 30 days, therefore time was of the essence to salvage the situation. He referred to the daily flights and routes undertaken by Flybe and indicated that no other airline was in a position to replace those, and therefore support the Northern Ireland economy, as they were more leisure orientated and were currently scaling back operations due to COVID-19, and did not have the resources in place to operate a seventy aircraft network. He concluded by highlighting the services the company provided and the class of passengers, such as business, sporting and leisure, who used the service.
The Lord Mayor thanked the deputation for their presentation.
The Council noted the information which had been provided and that it would have an opportunity to discuss the issue later in the meeting.
The Chief Executive informed the Council that a request had been received from Ms. J. Cummings, Flybe employee, Mr. G. Brash, from Unite the Union, and Mr. C. Robb, British Airline Pilots Association, to address the Council in advance of the motion on Flybe Airline, which was being proposed by the Lord Mayor, Councillor D. Baker.
The Council approved the request and the deputation was welcomed to the meeting.
Mr. Brash stated that, from a Union prospective, the Flybe collapse had massive repercussions on Flybe staff and other workers throughout the supple chain. He referred to the impact on the Northern Ireland economy and that the Union was calling for the airport to come back into public service authority and asking for Councillors to lobby MLAs and local politicians to secure funding to allow that to happen. He referred to the cherry picking of the routes by other airlines and how this would not secure jobs and that an airline needed to be based at the City airport for this to happen.
Ms. Jennings advised that she had worked at Flybe for 19 years. She outlined the impact which the collapse of the airline would have personally on her and her colleagues financially, their lack of knowledge regarding the benefits system and moving forward. She then highlighted the number of workers who would be affected and the impact the collapse of Flybe would have on the passengers who used the service.
Mr. Robb highlighted the fact that Flybe had successfully provided a service to Northern Ireland for the past forty years. He referred to the Airport Operators Certificate, which was held by Flybe, which any airline needed to operate commercially and which would only be in place for less than 30 days, therefore time was of the essence to salvage the situation. He referred to the daily flights and routes undertaken by Flybe and indicated that no other airline was in a position to replace those, and therefore support the Northern Ireland economy, as they were more leisure orientated and were currently scaling back operations due to COVID-19, and did not have the resources in place to operate a seventy aircraft network. He concluded by highlighting the services the company provided and the class of passengers, such as business, sporting and leisure, who used the service.
The Lord Mayor thanked the deputation for their presentation.
The Council noted the information which had been provided and that it would have an opportunity to discuss the issue later in the meeting.