Flybe revenues soaring after its relaunch starts to pay off

The UK airline revealed that it filled 75% of its flights on average in the last quarter to continue their recovery.

23 July 2014

Ditching loss-making routes and upping price promotions has paid off for Flybe, the company have said.

The budget airline said passenger revenue flew up nearly 10% and its planes are now three-quarters full, on average.

The airline has undergone a turnaround under chief executive Saad Hammad, who joined last summer after five profit warnings.

The previously loss-making airline recently reported it made an annual profit for the first time in four years.

Today it said the relaunch of its brand including new purple livery, an advertising campaign, more price promotions and the launch of 11 routes had improved the underlying business.

Hammad said: “We have achieved a significant amount in the quarter, with substantially more to do in the months ahead.”

Passenger revenues per seat rose 9.5% in the quarter to £52.79 after its route overhaul reduced capacity by 17.2% to 2.5 million seats for the quarter to July. The carrier’s load factor jumped to 75.8% in the quarter, up from 66.5% a year earlier.

It flies from 35 UK airports and reduced its number of bases from 13 to seven in the past year.