All of Blue Air’s flights have been grounded until October 10, with local reports stating that the carrier’s finances have been frozen.
The airline operates flights from a number of Romanian cities to UK airports including Birmingham, Heathrow, Liverpool and Luton.
Local publication romania-insider.com reports that the airline’s bank accounts have been frozen after it failed to pay a €2 million fine, relating to more than 11,000 flights which were cancelled between April 2021 and April 2022.
It was initially reported the Blue Air’s flights had been suspended until September 12, 2022, but the carrier’s website now states that it will resume services on October 10.
Shortly before the suspension of services Blue Air had announced an agreement with start-up carrier Air Connect, which would have seen the operation of selected domestic and international EU regional services transferred to Air Connect.
Airlines including Wizz Air have moved quickly to expand services from Romania.
Wizz said that it would add five aircraft to its base at Bucharest airport, launching new flights to Athens, Prague and Larnaca and increasing frequencies on over 30 existing routes.
Both Wizz Air and Ryanair are offering rescue fares on affected routes, with fares from €49.99.
In September 2021 Blue Air launched a new route between Heathrow and Nice, but booking for the service were closed just a few months later in January 2022.
