![\"Airline\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/airline.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUK carrier Ascend Airways has entered liquidation after just three years of operations.<\/p>\n
The firm’s management cited soaring fuel costs, rising domestic expenses and an inability to secure contracts as key factors behind the collapse.<\/p>\n
The airline, which provided aircraft to carriers including Oman Air, Air Sierra Leone and TUI Airways, informed crew of the immediate cessation of operations on April 27.<\/p>\n
An insider told The Sun: “It’s gone bust today, we got the news this afternoon. We’ve all been given the letters that it’s all going into liquidation.”<\/p>\n
Company executives delayed any public statement until flight YD187 from Muscat had landed safely at Stansted Airport.<\/p>\n
A staff email attributed the failure to mounting economic pressures, sharply rising UK operating costs and the inability to secure sufficient business.<\/p>\n
The source added employees had feared the worst for months as unpaid bills mounted and financial difficulties deepened.<\/p>\n
The insider said: “It’s to do with the economy, we couldn’t get contracts, the UK is a lot more expensive than Europe, the fuel situation had a massive effect on it as well.”<\/p>\n
Ascend Airways collapses into liquidation as staff blame costs, fuel crisis and failed contracts<\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
Ascend Airways had placed its hopes on obtaining an IOSA licence in March, which would have opened access to international routes, but the attempt was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
Negotiations with potential rescue partners also collapsed after they declined to take on enough aircraft to maintain viable operations.<\/p>\n
The insider said: “It’s 40 per cent cheaper to use airlines in Europe than the UK because taxes are too high.”<\/p>\n
Staff expressed frustration at recent hiring decisions, with concerns management had relied heavily on securing the certification.<\/p>\n
![\"Wizzair\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/wizzair.jpg\")
The collapse comes as warnings intensify across the aviation sector over the impact of rising fuel costs<\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
J\u00f3zsef V\u00e1radi, chief executive of Wizz Air, warned that European carriers could face collapse by September if jet fuel prices remain at current levels.<\/p>\n
The airline boss said the seasonal downturn after peak summer demand would be more severe this year due to cost pressures linked to the Iran war.<\/p>\n
“At the moment, all airlines are selling against summer demand, which is the highest-priced capacity during the year, but you run out of steam by the end of June.”<\/p>\n
Benchmark European jet fuel prices reached $1,838 per tonne at the start of April, more than doubling from $831 in February.<\/p>\n
Mr V\u00e1radi said: “Airlines go bust two times a year, in September and February, airlines with weak liquidity positions will come under immense pressure in September time.”<\/p>\n
He predicted a sharp reduction in flight capacity after the summer season, with carriers expected to withdraw routes in September and October.<\/p>\n
The airline’s chief iindicated that financially weaker airlines and national carriers such as British Airways and Air France could face significant cuts.<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s Lufthansa has already removed 20,000 short-haul services from its summer schedule, citing unprofitable routes driven by high fuel costs.<\/p>\n
Mr V\u00e1radi added that fuel prices could remain elevated for up to 18 months regardless of developments in the Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route responsible for around a fifth of oil and gas flows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK carrier Ascend Airways has entered liquidation after just three years of operations. The firm’s management cited soaring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,65247,1371,2222,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-557203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-fuel-crisis","tag-jobs","tag-money","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}