Flybe boss Mark Anderson has told staff that he and the management team remain “focused” on turning the airline round.
According to Sky News, Flybe, which has already been bailed out once, has been struggling to secure fresh finance.
In his email, Mr Anderson stressed that Flybe was continuing to operate as normal.
“All my energy, and that of our Leadership Team, is very focused on continuing to turn Flybe, soon to be Virgin Connect, around and deliver the heartfelt service that our customers expect,” he said.
“I do appreciate that the headlines some of you have already read are disturbing but I want you to know that we are determined to do everything we can to make this work.”
He told staff he was “extremely grateful” for their hard work and commitment.
In an earlier statement, Flybe said it was focusing on “providing great service and connectivity for our customers, to ensure that they can continue to travel as planned”.
Flybe, the UK’s biggest regional carrier, added: “We don’t comment on rumour or speculation.”
The reports come a year after Flybe was bought for £2.8m by a consortium including Virgin Atlantic and Stobart Group.
Since then, the consortium has invested tens of millions of pounds in the troubled carrier, but losses have continued to mount.
Tourism adviser and researcher Prof Annette Pritchard, of the Welsh Centre for Tourism Research in Cardiff, commented on Twitter that Flybe provided “a vital social and cultural link for many marginal economies”.
Based in Exeter, Flybe carries about eight million passengers a year from airports such as Southampton, Cardiff and Aberdeen, to the UK and Europe.
Its network of routes includes more than half of UK domestic flights outside London.
If the business collapses, more than 2,000 jobs will be at risk.
Worried travellers
Matthew Mills, a graphic designer based in Shropshire, recently booked flights for his family to Germany with Flybe.
He is also one of the 10,000 consumers still waiting to receive a refund from collapsed travel firm Thomas Cook on a holiday that was meant to take place in November.
“You don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” he told the BBC. “We’ve used Flybe quite a bit in the past because we have family in Germany and we don’t have many alternatives in the UK – if Flybe goes under, we’d be looking at 50% more in prices on flights to Germany, easily.”
Worried Flybe customers have taken to Twitter to express their concerns, saying they are still waiting for information on whether their flights will go ahead.
Union ‘appalled’
The BBC understands that EY has been lined up as administrators if Flybe were to go under.
Brian Strutton, general secretary of pilots’ union Balpa, said: “I am appalled that once again the future of a major UK airline and hundreds of jobs is being discussed in secret with no input from employees or their representatives.
“According to reports, the airline could have collapsed over the weekend, which would have been devastating news.”
Mr Strutton called on Flybe’s owners and the government to talk to the union, saying staff had a right to know what was going on.
Prof Loizos Heracleous, an aviation industry expert from Warwick Business School, said it would be “no easy task” for Flybe to attract new finance.
He added: “The aviation industry is an unattractive industry in terms of performance and returns on investment at the best of times.
“It is saddled with high-cost assets, namely planes, and key costs that fluctuate uncontrollably, mainly fuel, which accounts for around a third of total airline costs.
“On top of that, they face high regulation, often aggressive unions, low barriers to entry that increase competition, and high bargaining power of buyers.”
Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter, said Flybe provided “valuable connectivity throughout the UK” and called on the government to intervene. He called Flybe “a strategically important business”.
The industry regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, said: “We do not comment on the financial situation of any of the organisations we regulate.” BBC News