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Virgin Atlantic in talks to buy Flybe

Fri, 23 Nov 2018

Virgin Atlantic is in talks about a takeover bid for Flybe.

The regional airline has been enduring serious financial pressures and put itself up for sale last week.

It's understood Virgin wants access to take-off and landing slots at Heathrow Airport, which are ring-fenced for domestic flights.

Flybe has been struggling because of Brexit-related uncertainty‎, the weaker pound and soaring fuel costs.

Stobart Air has operated Flybe routes to and from the Isle of Man for a number of years, mostly to Liverpool and Manchester with a daily flight to Birmingham, but that deal ends on 31 March 2019.

In June, the airline confirmed it would be reinstating a new base at Ronaldsway.

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