Flybe plans post peak fleet profit progress; new CEO introduces a business improvement plan

After strong growth since the end of the financial year to Mar-2015, Flybe's fleet numbers reached a peak in May-2017 and are now set to fall by 18% over the next three years. The airline's new CEO, Christine Ourmieres-Widener should reap the benefits of actions taken by her predecessor to limit the impact of surplus capacity ordered by his predecessor.

Flybe's fleet growth over the past two years has accelerated its growth in seat capacity and this has had a negative impact on its load factor and unit revenue. Together with struggling to control unit cost, this caused Flybe to fall back into loss in FY2017. Ms Ourmieres-Widener has introduced a plan to improve the airline's performance.

Flybe was the fastest growing top 20 European airline group last winter, but its capacity growth is slowing this summer and it plans to cut capacity next winter. Freed from the excess fleet growth that burdened its FY2017 result, Flybe now has an opportunity to control its capacity growth, adapt it more closely to demand, and thereby - to restore profits.