There is obviously a thick air between the regional airline Helvetic Airways and the house brand of the airport Bern-Belp, FlyBair. The airline is demanding payment for the charter flights to Palma de Mallorca that were canceled in the summer of 2021.

The FlyBair AG annual report shows that a legal dispute is pending. The subsidiary of Bern-Belp Airport takes the view that the flight was canceled due to “force majeure”, as the Swiss Confederation had introduced a quarantine requirement when returning from Mallorca.

Helvetic Airways sees the matter differently and invoices the services in the form of "cancellation fees". The regional airline insists on payment, which suggests that FlyBair AG may not have agreed a cancellation clause, or at least a very inflexible one.

Originally, WDL and the airline Walter should have been flying for the house brand of Bern-Belp Airport. For unspecified reasons, the collaboration did not come through a presentation flight and a sticker on an Embraer 190. FlyBair then chartered aircraft with Helvetic Airways. Originally, around 150 round trips from Bern and Sion were agreed, but only 32 were actually carried out. Helvetic now claims to have paid the difference.

Helvetic is suing 261.000 Swiss francs

The FlyBair annual report also states that you paid for three round trips to Palma, but this was canceled. Two rotations between Sion and Mallorca are also affected. As a result, Helvetic Airways did not fly. The Bern subsidiary wants the money back, but: "To date, the operator has refused to make a repayment."

According to the daily newspaper “Der Bund”, Helvetic Airways is demanding payment of all canceled flights in court. It is about a sum of 261.000 Swiss Francs, which a judge has to decide on, unless the two parties to the dispute should come to an out of court agreement beforehand. But the fact that FlyBair denies the claim in full, but is said to have already billed some of it to travel agencies, seems really piquant. The further development therefore remains to be seen.