Snowfall chaos sees passenger numbers drop at airline Flybe

LOW cost airline Flybe said it flew 1.2 per cent fewer passengers in the third quarter as it was forced to cancel nearly 2,000 flights during the pre-Christmas snow chaos.

The carrier, which serves Leeds Bradford and Doncaster Sheffield airports, reported passenger numbers of 1.7 million in the three months to December 31, compared with 1.72 million a year earlier. But it estimated passenger numbers would have been 4.8 per cent higher with the weather effect stripped out.

A boost from additional charges and ticket sales growth helped revenues rise 1.5 per cent in the quarter despite the disruption.

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Flybe said January had got off to a good start with the number of seats flown up nine per cent last month, or two per cent with the weather effect stripped out.

Flybe serves five winter routes from Leeds Bradford, plus two from Doncaster, and operates a fleet of 70-seat to 120-seat aircraft from regional airports.

It typically focuses on internal UK routes, but also flies to around 30 continental destina- tions.

Flybe, which has already revealed a £6m hit from the December snow, said extra charges on top of standard ticket sales surged 11.2 per cent to £22.8m in the quarter.

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The low cost airline industry is in the firing line after consumer group Which? lodged a super-complaint over charges relating to credit and debit cards.

It claims budget carriers are among the worst offenders for adding charges for card processing on to bills, with some charging a fee per passenger per leg of the journey, in spite of them having to process just one transaction. Which? said it believed the actual cost to the retailer was no more than 20p for a debit card transaction or a percentage of a credit card transaction, thought to be no more than two per cent.

Flybe’s passenger revenue per seat rose 4.1 per cent in the third quarter and remained stable in January.

The group, which is Britain’s biggest domestic airline, floated in December to raise around £60m for expansion plans.

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Half of the proceeds will go towards a fleet of new aircraft and the remainder into supporting growth plans, such as codesharing agreements and potential takeovers.

Jim French, chairman and chief executive of Flybe, said that plans for expansion into continental Europe were “progressing well”.

The Flybe brand is eight years old, but has traded under various names, starting out as Jersey European Airways in 1979.

It later became British European Airways as it expanded with the backing of Sir Jack Walker, the steel tycoon who owned Blackburn Rovers football club.

The Walker family trust own a stake of around 49 per cent following the float, while British Airways has retained its stake.