Flybe to commence London City operations on 27-Oct-2014
Flybe signed (23-Apr-2014) a five-year agreement with the UK's London City Airport, with the carrier to launch the following routes on 27-Oct-2014 using Bombardier Q400 equipment - see Route Changes Table for more information:
- London City-Belfast City: Thrice daily service. The carrier will be the route's only operator;
- London City-Dublin: Four times daily service. CityJet also operates on the route;
- London City-Edinburgh: Four times daily service. British Airways also operates on the route;
- London City-Exeter: Thrice daily service. The carrier will be the route's only operator;
- London City-Inverness: Twice daily service. The carrier will be the route's only operator.
The above route competition is provided by OAG. Flybe will deploy five Q400s on the above routes, which will be based at three of its existing bases, and expects to carry up to 500,000 passengers p/a. Flybe stated: "Regional core services within the UK and from/to Ireland will be supplemented with off-peak leisure flights to selected Ski, Regional French and Northern Spanish destinations. More information about these routes will be announced in the coming weeks." Flybe CEO Saad Hammad said: "Today's announcement is a significant landmark in the re-birth of Flybe. We are delighted to re-enter the London market at London's most convenient airport following a rigorous profitability analysis utilising our strict route assessment model. Dedicating five growth aircraft initially to these new routes is a major statement of intent and we look forward to building a successful and growing presence there over the coming years. Flybe is today already connecting over 7 million passengers a year across the UK and Europe. With a major London connection, we reaffirm our place as the UK's largest regional airline." London City Airport CEO Declan Collier added: "London City Airport (LCY) is poised for significant growth in the next ten years - growth that will see it achieve 120,000 flight movements per annum, with an associated 6 million passengers by 2023. Today's announcement is an extremely important step on that journey - Flybe will bring an immediate uplift of up to half a million new passengers to the airport. In addition, Flybe's selection of routes serves to cement further LCY's status as the business traveller's airport of choice, underpinned by our 'location, convenience and speed' customer propositions." [more - original PR - Flybe] [more - original PR - LCY] [more - original PR - DUB] [more - original PR - EXT] [more - original PR - INV]