Member Article

Regional airline joins the stock market

REGIONAL short hop airline Flybe has unveiled plans to issue £60m in new shares and join the stock market.

The operator, which travels across Europe from major North East airports, says this will help the company expand.

The airline started out in 1979 as Jersey European Airways, eventually renaming itself Flybe in 2002

It acquired British Airways’ UK internal flights subsidiary - BA Connect - in 2007, and is reportedly seeking to roll out its “regional” business model across the rest of Europe.

It specialises in short-hop flights, lasting one hour or less, and using smaller aircraft than its rivals.

Flybe’s chairman, Jim French, said at the time of its last profit figures in September that it was “one of only three major European airlines that have reported profits throughout the recession.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .