Collapsed airline Flybmi was once Leeds Bradford Airport's major carrier

It entered administration last weekend amid tough market conditions.
A British Midland flight to London Heathrow leaves Leeds Bradford Airport in 2003A British Midland flight to London Heathrow leaves Leeds Bradford Airport in 2003
A British Midland flight to London Heathrow leaves Leeds Bradford Airport in 2003

Flybmi and its predecessor, British Midland, was once the dominant airline based at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Hundreds of passengers left stranded by sudden collapse of FlybmiIts former parent, British Midland, began operating from LBA in 1980, when they took over the Leeds to London Heathrow route from British Airways, at one point using Boeing 737s on the service.

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Flybmi's new route from Leeds Bradford to Munich scrapped before it had even taken offIn later years, they added flights to Brussels, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Paris, Copenhagen, Jersey and Cork, many of them daily departures tailored to business travellers.

In 2009, British Midland withdrew the Heathrow flights as their profitability declined, and a Flybe service to Gatwick was the airport's only link to the capital until 2012, when the Heathrow route was reinstated under British Airways.

In 2012, British Midland's regional subsidiary was sold, becoming independent of its parent, and in 2013, Flybmi left Leeds Bradford when their daily route to Brussels was axed.

At the end of 2018, Flybmi announced its return to Leeds Bradford with a new route to Munich aimed at business and leisure travellers. It has already started selling tickets for the first flights in April 2019, but the airline's collapse has meant the service has now been axed without ever taking off.