Flybe is an airline based at Exeter Airport, England. It is the largest independent regional airline in Europe currently operating on 99 routes to 40 airports. The airlines main base is Exeter International Airport, with further bases at Southampton International Airport, Birmingham International Airport and Belfast City Airport. The airline and started operations on 1 November 1979 as Jersey European Airways, after taking over the operations of Intra Airways, but was taken over in 1983 by the Walker Steel Group who were already the parent company of Blackpool based charter airline Spacegrand Aviation. The two airlines were initially run separately, with partially shared management, until their amalgamation within the Walker Aviation Group in 1985, under the Jersey European Airways name. The airline rebranded as British European Airways in June 2000 and later shortened this title to become Flybe on 18 July 2002 and repositioned as a full service, low-fare airline. The airline is owned by James French, Orbis Trustees and Rosedale Aviation Holdings. It has 1638 employees. On 6 June 2005 Flybe placed a firm order for 14 Embraer 195 aircraft, valued at $470 million at list prices, plus options on an additional 12 aircraft, which would take the order value to $870 million. Flybe will be the worldwide launch customer for the Embraer 195. Delivery of the firm order aircraft will start in August 2006 and be completed in November 2007. The new aircraft will replace Flybe's BAe 146 aircraft, completing the fleet rationalisation started in 2003 which also includes an order for up to 61 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft (41 firm orders and 20 options). On 14 June 2005 Flybe converted four existing Dash 8 Q400 options into firm orders (at a cost of $100 million) bringing its fleet of Q400s to 45 aircraft when they are delivered (ref: Air International, July 2005). In December the airline annouced that passengers will be charged for hold lugguage. Passengers with hand baggage only will receive a discount on their tickets. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Flybe". |