04/05/2004

260 jobs to go on collapse of Duo Airways

The administrators of low-cost airline Duo Airways have announced that 260 of the 300 jobs are to be axed immediately following the collapse of the company.

At the weekend hundreds of tourists were stranded at two British hubs, Birmingham and Edinburgh, on the collapse of the budget airline during one of the busiest periods of the year.

Launched some seven months ago the airline had a staff of 300, but today administrators Deloitte announced that 260 employees including flight staff, engineers and office staff have been made redundant.

In a statement from Deloitte, the decision was taken "as funds are not available for the business to continue operating".

The majority the staff affected, 250 employees, were based at the company's Birmingham head office, 10 more staff at Duo’s second base in Edinburgh are also to go.

Bill Dawson, partner at Deloitte commented: “It is regrettable that this step had to be taken but funds were not available to operate the airline. A small core of staff have been retained to ensure that the recovery of funds for creditors is maximised.”

Revenues for the low-cost airline have not been as high as anticipated and although bookings were growing, additional funds required to enable the airline to continue operating were not forthcoming.

(SP)

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