airline see british european airways . flybe iata icao callsign be 1 bee jersey founded 1979 as jersey european airways aoc 601 operating bases aberdeen belfast city cardiff doncaster sheffield edinburgh exeter glasgow southampton hubs birmingham manchester focus cities inverness jersey london city hannover frequent flyer program avios airport lounge flybe executive lounge fleet size 77 destinations 102 company slogan the fastest way from a to flybe ... . faster than road or rail headquarters exeter international airport devon england key people simon laffin chairman 2 saad hammad ceo jack walker founder andrew knuckey cfo revenue 620.5 million 12 months to 31 march 2014 3 operating income 8.1 million 12 months to 31 march 2014 3 net income 8.0 million 12 months to 31 march 2014 3 website flybe.com flybe pronounced fla bi is the largest independent regional airline in europe based in exeter operating more uk domestic flights than any other airline . it flies 7 million passengers a year on 149 routes from 62 destinations in 9 countries connecting to long haul hubs in manchester birmingham paris dublin and amsterdam . it is a member of the european regions airline association . 4 flybe s parent company flybe group plc formerly known as walker aviation limited is listed on the london stock exchange . 5 the airline launched in 1979 as jersey european airways following the merger of intra airways and express air services . in 1983 the airline was sold to walker steel group which also owned spacegrand aviation and the two airlines were merged under the jersey european name in 1985 . jersey european was renamed british european in 2000 shortened to be and received its current name in 2002 . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 development since 2010 2 corporate affairs 2.1 ownership and structure 2.2 business trends 2.3 service concept 2.4 joint ventures and franchises 2.5 sponsorship 3 destinations 3.1 partnerships and codeshare agreements 4 fleet 4.1 current fleet 4.2 historical fleet 5 references 6 external links history edit early years edit a jersey european vickers viscount in 1980 a jersey european bae 146 wearing the 1991 2000 livery a british european crj 200 wearing the 2000 2002 livery former jersey european logo used from 1991 2000 flybe started operations on 1 november 1979 as jersey european airways as a result of a merger of jersey based intra airways and bournemouth based express air services 6 7 and was founded by john habin a resident of jersey and the majority investor . after selling aviation beauport and other business interests habin established some key routes from jersey to the uk before selling the airline in november 1983 to jack walker s walker steel group which already owned blackpool based charter airline spacegrand aviation . the two airlines were then run separately with partially shared management until 1985 when they amalgamated under the jersey european name with the airline s headquarters moving to exeter . 8 the airline became british european in june 2000 9 shortening this title to flybe on 18 july 2002 and repositioning itself as a full service low fare airline . on 3 november 2006 it was announced that flybe would buy ba connect except for that airline s services out of london city airport . the takeover was complete in march 2007 . the expanded airline s owners were rosedale aviation holdings 69 % flybe staff 16 % and as a result of the ba connect takeover international airlines group 15 % . 10 the acquisition increased flybe s route network in both the uk and continental europe making flybe europe s largest regional airline . 11 on 14 january 2008 it was announced that flybe had signed a franchise agreement with scottish airline loganair to commence on 26 october 2008 following the termination of loganair s franchise agreement with british airways on 25 october 2008 . the agreement would see loganair aircraft flying in flybe colours on 55 routes from scotland . 12 in 2008 in order to avoid losing a 280 000 rebate from norwich airport flybe hired 172 actors as fake passengers on 11 flights to dublin . 13 14 15 as a result the environmental group friends of the earth called on the government to launch an investigation into the aviation industry . 16 chief executive officer jim french was recognised in the 2009 queen s birthday honours list with a cbe for his services to the airline industry . 17 development since 2010 edit on 10 december 2010 flybe floated an ipo on the london stock exchange with trading in shares commencing on the same day . full public release of shares followed on 15 december 2010 . the share price was set at 295p valuing the company at approximately 215 million and raising 66 million for the company half of which was to pay for fleet expansion . 18 19 on 23 may 2013 it was reported that flybe had sold its slots at gatwick airport to easyjet for 20m and that the slots would be handed over to easyjet on 29 march 2014 . 20 ceo and chairman jim french retired in august 2013 leaving the post of ceo to saad hammad formerly of easyjet airline while simon laffin became chairman . 21 by november 2013 hammad had shaken up the operation requesting the resignations of three top managers within six weeks of his arrival . out of 158 routes flown at the time over 60 did not cover their direct operating expenses and the costs of crew and aircraft . 21 on 23 april 2014 flybe announced that it will launch domestic and international flights from london city from 27 october 2014 after signing a five year deal with the docklands airport . the airline is expecting to carry around 500 000 passengers a year with all 5 allocated aircraft being based around the flybe network overnight . 22 in march 2014 it was announced that flybe would undergo a major brand refresh . this new scheme included a new purple aircraft livery and new interior features . 23 the first aircraft in the new livery will be the spirit of liberum registered g jecy . 24 the aircraft carried the baton into cardiff airport for the queen s baton relay in the buildup to the glasgow 2014 commonwealth games on 24 may 2014 . british airways sold most of its remaining stake in the airline in june 2014 . it had been reduced to 5 % by share issues . in early 2015 it was announced that flybe had negotiated a six year agreement with sas scandinavian airlines to fly 4 atr 72 600 aircraft on their behalf starting in october 2015 . 25 on 4 march 2015 flybe announced new routes from cardiff airport bringing the number of routes to eleven . flybe also stated its intention to create a new base at cardiff airport by summer 2015 . 26 on 10 november 2015 flybe announced that it would base two embraer 195 aircraft at doncaster s robin hood airport starting new routes to amsterdam berlin paris jersey alicante m laga faro and newquay as of 27 march 2016 . 27 28 this announcement came on the same day that flybe announced that they would be pulling flights from bournemouth . 29 corporate affairs edit ownership and structure edit jack walker house flybe head office at exeter international airport flybe is a public company listed on the london stock exchange lse flyb . 30 until november 2013 the main shareholder with 48.1 % of the shares was rosedale aviation holdings limited 31 the corporate representative of the trustee of the jack walker 1987 settlement which was established by the late jack walker who was involved in flybe s early development . in the uk flybe s largest base is at birmingham airport 32 and it has other large bases at belfast manchester and southampton airports with a total of 14 crew and aircraft bases across the united kingdom the channel islands and the isle of man . the company holds a united kingdom civil aviation authority type a operating licence permitting it to carry passengers cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats . 33 the flybe group includes flybe aviation services engineering and maintenance flybe training academy engineering and flight crew training flybe uk airline operations and flybe europe the holding company for all european operations which previously consisted of flybe nordic . business trends edit the trends for flybe group over recent years are shown below as at year ending 31 march 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 group turnover total less jv m 367.5 535.9 572.4 570.5 595.5 615.3 614.3 620.5 profit loss earnings before tax & adjustments m 16.2 30.4 0.1 5.7 7.6 7.1 23.2 8.1 profit loss after before tax m 19.9 34.9 4.1 6.7 3.8 6.4 41.8 8.0 number of employees average 1 931 3 197 2 860 2 798 2 949 2 781 2 667 2 650 number of passengers scheduled m 5.2 7.0 7.3 7.2 7.2 7.6 7.2 7.7 passenger load factor schedule % n a n a 65.4 63.5 61.7 61.9 62.6 69.5 number of aircraft average year end 81 80 68 67 68 84 81 97 notes sources 34 34 31 35 31 36 31 37 31 31 3 service concept edit flybe employs allocated seating on all flights and passengers have the option to choose a seat online in advance . all in ticket holders receive a complimentary drink and snack access to flybe executive lounges free prebooked seating and priority check in . for economy passengers the airline operates a buy on board programme called caf flybe offering food and drinks for purchase and have the biggest and broadest range of buy on board products of any airline in the market . onboard sales are an important part of the airline s ancillary revenue . joint ventures and franchises edit loganair saab 340b at leeds bradford international airport loganair have operated a number of flights in scotland and ireland for flybe under a franchise agreement since 2008 . 38 the franchise has been criticised by residents in the scottish islands for what they perceive to be excessively high fares 39 40 and a facebook campaign set up in june 2015 to highlight the issue attracted over 7 400 likes over the course of its first weekend . flybe have however stated that loganair their franchise partner is responsible for setting the fares . 41 on 11 january 2016 flybe announced its third franchise deal with the guernsey based airline blue islands . this would see all blue islands flights operated under the flybe name and the blue islands aircraft livery replaced with the current flybe livery from may 2016 . 42 flybe purchased finncomm airlines with finnair in july 2011 43 and on 30 october 2011 rebranded the airline as flybe nordic . the joint venture operates its own routes along with franchise routes under a codeshare agreement for finnair operating under flybe s be code . flybe agreed to sell its 60 % stake in flybe nordic in november 2014 for 1 in an attempt to reduce group costs . 44 on 1 may 2015 flybe nordic began operating solely for finnair as it is no longer a part of flybe . flybe nordic is now known as nordic regional airlines norra . 45 sponsorship edit on 24 april 2006 flybe announced a 3 year deal with southampton football club for sponsorship of the main club and shirt . on 11 december 2008 it was announced that flybe had extended the deal by an extra year . however this sponsorship deal has now ended with the club s decision to keep the club s shirts free of sponsorship for its 125th anniversary . 46 flybe are also the main and shirt sponsor of exeter city football club . flybe also sponsors