Famous Airlines That Have Gone Out of Business

May 19, 2024

British airline Flybe went out of business in March 2020 thanks to coronavirus-related drop in travel demand — Air Italy fell just one month earlier
Thomas Cook is just the latest airline to shut down this year.
Here's a list of 26 airlines that went bust over the past couple of decades.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Thanks for signing up!

Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app

British regional airline Flybe ceased operations in early March.

The 40-year-old airline shut down after a prolonged financial struggle, but a decrease in bookings caused by COVID-19 anxieties pushed it over the edge.

It wasn't the first European airline to collapse this year — Air Italy folded in February.

Over the past two decades, a number of well-known airline brands have disappeared from the aviation landscape. A large number of these brands have gone away due to mergers as airlines joined together in order to survive the brutally competitive market place.

Northwest and Delta merged to form the new Delta Air Lines. United and Continental merged to create the new United Airlines with planes painted in Continental livery. TWA was acquired by American Airlines. America West and US Air merged to become US Airways. American Airlines and US Airways then merged to form a new American Airlines under US Airways management. Virgin America was acquired by Alaska Airlines while AirTran Airways and Morris Air were acquired by Southwest Airlines.

In Canada, Canadian Airlines was merged into Air Canada. While in Brazil, Varig was acquired by Gol. The UK's British Caledonian and British Midland were both acquired by British Airways, itself created by the 1974 merger of British Overseas Airways Corporation, British European Airways, and two smaller regional carriers.

But with the tremendous number of airlines that have collapsed amid a wide range of problems, we at Business Insider decided to compile a list of airlines that went out of business the old fashioned way, running out of money.

Here's a closer look.

This article was originally published by Benjamin Zhang in March 2019. It was updated by David Slotnick in March 2020.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyitdGloKedo2LBqa3TZp6oZZ%2BqwW67xWaZrquZo7K0v4xrZ2pxXWg%3D