Aberdeen is likely to be the city “hardest hit” by Brexit, the SNP’s economy spokeswoman has claimed.
Aberdeen North MP Kirsty Blackman pointed to the collapse of airline Flybmi and the cancellations of flights from Aberdeen Airport as evidence of the impact of Brexit on the city.
Flybmi – which operated routes between the city and Esbjerg in Denmark, Oslo in Norway and Bristol – announced that it had gone into administration on Saturday.
The airline blamed Brexit as one of the reasons for its collapse, saying that administration had been “the only course of action left open”.
Ms Blackman, speaking in the Commons, said: “Our thoughts are at this time with staff whose futures are uncertain and also those who’ve had their travel plans thrown into disarray and are out of pocket or are in fact stranded.
“At a time when Aberdeen is feeling the impact of the loss of easyJet flights, the news of Flybmi going into administration is deeply worrying, particularly as they explicitly mentioned Brexit uncertainty as one of their reasons.
“It has been said in studies recently that Aberdeen is set to be the hardest hit city in the UK by Brexit.”
Ms Blackman asked ministers to clarify what they were doing to support airports like Aberdeen at this time.
Transport minister Nusrat Ghani said the government would do what it could to support regional airports affected but dismissed the notion that Brexit had impacted Flybmi.
She said: “Flybmi’s business model was just no longer working in a very, very competitive market and if you look at their public accounts they were in trouble before the referendum took place.
“Just putting the blame on Brexit really doesn’t wash.”
After the firm went into administration, sister company Loganair announced it would be stepping in to secure three key air routes from Aberdeen.
Beginning on March 4, Loganair will operate flights from Aberdeen to Bristol, Oslo and Esbjerg.
