VIRGIN bosses were hung out to dry yesterday by Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary for the collapse of failed airline Flybe, saying that the regional carrier's "departure will not be missed".

The colourful boss put the blame squarely at the feet of Sir Richard Branson and Delta, who both own significant parts of Virgin Atlantic, who in turn partown Flybe.

A witness statement filed by chief Mark Anderson, first reported by Sky News and seen by City A.M., revealed that Virgin told Flybe it was "no longer in a position to provide further funding" due to the impact of the Covid-19 virus on their own numbers.

It was also revealed that: • Credit card firms had held back almost £50m in cash from Flybe after the firm issued a profit warning in October 2018; • Carriers including Ryanair are positioning themselves to fill Flybe's valuable landing slots, and; • An international aviation body estimates the combined industry hit of coronavirus will hit $113bn (£87.2bn), up from an estimate of $30bn just a fortnight ago.

£ CONTINUES ON P3 CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE But the most dramatic intervention was O'Leary's, who told Sky News yesterday it was "unfair to blame the UK government or Covid-19" for the airline's demise.

He said: "It's an airline whose business model has never succeeded. It was always going to go bust."

Flybe finally went bankrupt in the early hours yesterday morning after the government refused to offer a £100m loan and its owners refused to inject more cash into the carrier.

Over the last 14 months Virgin Atlantic, part-owned by Delta, has contributed £60m of the £130m its ownership consortium with Stobart Air and Cyrus Capital have put into Flybe.

On Wednesday Virgin said its airline chief executive would take a 20 per cent pay cut as part of a raft of measures to mitigate the impact of coronavirus.

The witness statement also showed that credit card firms had held back nearly £50m in cash from Flybe since it first issued a profit warning in October 2018.

It added that the firm had "deferred supplier payments".

The airline's survival had hinged upon the government loan, but Anderson's statement said that the UK's business department had been "reluctant to offer" the money after due diligence was conducted and complaints from rivals rolled in.

Flybe's collapse prompted fears over the fate of the UK's regional airports, with many dependent on the airline to operate the majority of their routes.

O'Leary said that Ryanair and other airlines had been in contact with these airports over where they could pick up the lost capacity. Scottish carrier Loganair moved quickly to secure a number of Flybe's slots at airports north of the border.

The government yesterday defended its role in the collapse of the airline. Transport minister Kelly Tolhurst said the government had been working "tirelessly" with Flybe's owners to try and drum up emergency cash.

(c) 2020 City A.M., source Newspaper