Hundreds attend jobs fair for former Flybe-staff in Exeter

Published: 10 March 2020

Hundreds of people attended a jobs fair to support those affected by the collapse of city-based airline Flybe.

The event at Exeter Corn Exchange was organised by the City Council after Flybe went into administration last week. Around 1,000 people lost their jobs in Exeter, and around 2,500 nationally.

The event was aimed at former employees of Flybe, and saw a large queue of people waiting for the doors to open at 10am. More than 200 people attended in the first 10 minutes.

More than 50 big companies, organisations and recruitment agencies took part in the jobs fair including BT, NHS, Ikea, Exeter College, University of Exeter and Met Office.

Council Leader Phil Bialyk said he was “devastated” by the collapse of Flybe and said the whole city was keen to do everything possible for all those affected.

He said: “This event was put on by the City Council in a matter of days and hours, primarily to help Flybe employees who lost their jobs last week, and the response has been fantastic.

“I hope those affected will be able to find new jobs as quickly as possible. Exeter is a vibrant city, we work together – that’s the secret of our success, working in collaboration with partners across the city to pull an event like this together.”