Flybe announces capacity cuts as demand weakens
Flybe share price fell this morning after the airline flagged up a ‘small’ loss for the current financial year.
The low-cost carrier said demand had weakened in the final quarter, during which it was also confronting overcapacity in the market and more competitive prices from rail operators.
Its revenue in the financial year to the end of March had also been hit, it said, by bad weather and French air traffic control strikes.
As a result, it has trimmed its capacity growth down from more than 12% to 10%.
Nevertheless, chief executive Christine Ourmieres-Widener said she was ‘very excited’ about the airline’s opportunities.
She promised a major upgrade of Flybe’s core systems to improve its customer experience, to increase online sales and ‘stop unprofitable flying’.
"Flybe is increasingly a digitally enabled business, with 80 per cent of bookings already being made via our website. To seize this opportunity, we must first rebuild some of our core systems and this is now starting."
This could further impact the airline’s profits to the tune of £5 million to £10 million on top of the loss the airline expects to report for the year to the end of March, she said.
Flybe’s share price regained some ground, but it was still trading 4% below yesterday’s closing price by mid-morning.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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