Regional airline Eastern Airways enters administration

UK regional airline Eastern Airways has entered administration after the majority of its 330 staff were made redundant last week.

The airline had operated across the UK, Ireland and Europe, and ran services supported by the Scottish government for people in the northernmost point of mainland UK.

However, after a contract to operate services for Dutch airline KLM was ended, the carrier had been left with a cost base that was “too high to be sustainable”, the administrators said.

Jamie Miller from RSM UK Restructuring Advisory, who has been appointed joint administrator, said sufficient staff had been retained to maintain the fleet while they sought to rescue some or all of Eastern’s operations.

He added: “We would welcome any interest from potential alternative operators, or those who may have an interest in the underlying assets.”

RSM said Eastern Airways had been operating four aircraft for KLM Cityhopper in Europe, but, when this contract was terminated, it had left Eastern with “high fixed overheads and a staff base that has ultimately proved too high to be sustainable”.

The company had filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator on 27 October after the Civil Aviation Authority announced all of its flights had been cancelled.

Launched in 1997, Eastern is one of the UK’s last remaining regional airlines and is based at Humberside Airport in North Lincolnshire.

But the airline has faced financial challenges since the Covid pandemic, in part due to falling passenger numbers.

It also operates out of East Midlands, Jersey, Manchester, Newcastle, Newquay and Southampton, as well as Esbjerg in Denmark.

It has been an operator in the North Sea offshore oil and gas industry, flying between UK cities with a significant presence in the sector such as Aberdeen, Humberside, Teesside and Wick.

It has run a weekday service between Wick John O’Groats Airport and Aberdeen, which is seen as vital for people living in the most northerly point on mainland UK.