Turbulent times for airline Flybe as it aims to cut 10pc of its UK workforce

Flybe joins other European airlines that have cut costs and staff numbers to cope with lower spending on air travel amid the eurozone debt crisis.

The job cuts include a 20 per cent reduction in management posts and about 10 per cent of overhead and production roles, Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, said yesterday.

Several European carriers including Scandinavian company SAS , Germany’s Lufthansa, Franco-Dutch airline Air France-KLM and International Airlines Group -owned Iberia and British Airways have already cut thousands of jobs.

Flybe expects its UK business, which swung to a pre-tax loss of £2.2m in fiscal year 2012, to break even in the fiscal year ending March 2014.

Flybe UK’s number of passengers rose three per cent to 1.7 million in the third quarter. But passenger revenue per seat was largely flat at £47.39.

The UK business brought in about 96 per cent of group revenue last year and serves more than 70 airports in the UK and several European countries.

It has a joint venture with Finnair and contract flying arrangements with Brussels Airlines and Olympic Air.

Flybe said it did not expect to close any of its 13 UK operational bases but it was implementing cost reduction plans with suppliers such as airports and maintenance providers, rolling out fuel efficiency programmes and expanding automation at the check-in process.

“Persistent losses were unsustainable and needed tackling in our view... however, much will depend on the delivery of these targets and it is obviously still early days,” Oriel Securities’ Edward Stanford said. “Assuming management is successful we believe that there is now limited downside risk to the share price.”

A spokesman confirmed that Flybe did not employ any staff at Leeds-Bradford airport, and had no plans to alter its flight network there.