Airline that offered 200 flights per day to disappear for good after 29 years

Eastern Airways, a UK regional airline that once operated up to 200 flights per day, is set to disappear after a bid to rescue the business failed. The company entered administration at the end of last year following financial difficulties after losing a contract with KLM. Eastern suspended operations at the start of November, cancelling all flights, and the UK Civil Aviation Authority urged passengers not to go to the airport. Eastern’s history dates to its 1997 founding, with headquarters at Humberside Airport near Kirmington in North Lincolnshire, and it reported more than a million passengers in rolling years. At peak, it employed around 330 staff and also served routes to Ireland and Europe, with hubs in Aberdeen and Humberside. With a potential rescue deal for Eastern and its affiliated Air Kilroe also collapsing, administrators RSM UK are set to break up and sell assets separately, after citing high fixed overheads and an unsustainable staff base.