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The airline that pioneered charges for checked-in baggage has abandoned its £9 flat fee for paying with debit cards.

Flybe, Eeurope’s largest regional carrier, says it has removed the charge as part of “‘A fair, open and transparent approach to sales and service policies'”.

Until its removal today, the fee earned Flybe an average of £4.50 for each passenger flown. But the airline’s UK managing director, Andrew Strong said “‘I’m not looking to put up fares to offset the removal. People will choose us because we offer a better product.'”

source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk

UK regional carrier Flybe and Finnair have completed their joint acquisition of Finnish Commuter Airlines.

This will result in the creation of Finland-based carrier Flybe Nordic.

The two carriers formed a joint venture in July to acquire Finnish Commuter Airlines from owner Finncomm for a total of €25 million ($36 million).

source: flightglobal.com

Budget airline Flybe has laid down a marker in its quest to dominate Europe’s regional routes by acquiring a Finnish regional carrier in a €25m (£22.7m) deal.

Exeter-based Flybe has bought Finnish Commuter Airlines in a joint venture with Finnair, Finland’s national carrier.

The deal came a day after Flybe announced a pre-tax loss of £4.3m last year following last April’s Icelandic volcano eruption and severe winter weather.

source: Guardian.co.uk

The financier, famous for betting against the pound in the 1992 fiscal crisis, has acquired a 3.4pc stake that will have cost more than £7m.

With a 3.4pc holding it is understood that Mr Soros will become Flybe‘s fourth biggest investor behind the Walker family, which owns 49pc; British Airways, which holds 15pc; and management, led by chief executive Jim French, who own 7pc.

The company is Britain’s biggest domestic airline and raised £60m by offering 20.3m shares at 295p.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

Holiday-makers jetting off with airline Flybe can now take out insurance to cover them in the event of more volcanic ash incidents.

The firm has just launched a £6.99 insurance policy which promises to pay out if flights are cancelled or delayed for over 24 hours due to volcanic ash.

As part of the offer – which runs to 30th October – anyone left stranded abroad could claim up to £1.050 in reasonable expenses.

source: newslite.tv

British airline Flybe is in talks to buy British Midland’s subsidiary operations bmi regional and bmi baby, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Lufthansa took over British Midland last month, but the German airline has indicated it is more interested in bmi’s long-haul routes and valuable Heathrow slots than in the two subsidiaries.

Bmi regional is UK-focused, while bmi baby is a low-cost airline that flies to a number of European destinations.

source: Reuters

As part of the new plans flights will be available from Birmingham to Dubrovnik on Sundays and Split on Saturdays from May 3rd, from Exeter to Alicante, Dubrovnik, Faro, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca, and from Southampton to Alicante, Dubrovnik, Faro, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Split.

London Gatwick will also serve Aberdeen, Belfast, Guernsey, Inverness, Isle of Man, Jersey and Newcastle.

source: travelbite.co.uk

Budget airline flybe, formerly known as British European, today signed an order for £520 million worth of new planes, some of which will be based at Edinburgh.

The contract, with Bombardier Aerospace of Canada, involves 17 firm orders for Q400 turboprops and an option to take a further 20, making it the largest aircraft deal signed so far this year. The first of the planes will arrive in June this year, with the other 16 over the next three years.

source: Evening News

Flybe has been named as the fastest growing low cost airline flying to and from Germany.

Budget airline Flybe now offers 128 flights a week to Germany, compared to just 26 flights in 2006/7, an increase of 392%. The statistics are published in the latest ‘Low Cost Monitor’ survey from the German Centre for Aero- and Spacetravel, which tracks the development of low fares airlines operating to and from Germany.

source: holidayextras.co.uk

Flybe has given the term low-fare airline an entirely new meaning: it is paying 172 people to fly back and forth across England and the Irish Sea to help it meet a target for passenger numbers at Norwich airport.Flybe was narrowly falling short of a target to deliver at least 15,000 passengers on the Dublin-Norwich route in the 12 months ending on Monday, which meant it would have to forego a 280,000 pound ($550,000) rebate from the airport.

After the airport rejected a request for a partial rebate for almost hitting the target, Flybe hired 172 temps for 30-40 pounds each, plus a free bar and in-flight entertainment, though it admitted “‘it probably sounds like an early April fool.'”

source: Reuters