Airline Flybe puts itself up for sale

Under-pressure regional airline Flybe is in talks about a possible sale of the group weeks after warning over profits.

The Exeter-based carrier said it is also looking at cutting further costs and flight capacity as it battles challenging conditions in the airline industry.

The group is in talks with a number of “strategic operators” about a potential sale and has hired Evercore as adviser to help with the review and sale process.

It comes weeks after Flybe warned over profits following falling demand and a £29 million hit from rising fuel costs and the weak pound.

Stobart Group walked away from a bid for Flybe in March after the two firms failed to agree terms.

But Stobart, which already has a franchise agreement with Flybe, could reportedly come back into the frame.

Flybe has 78 planes operating from smaller airports including London City, Southampton and Norwich, and flies to destinations across the UK and Europe.

It carries around eight million passengers a year.

In yesterday’s half-year results, Flybe saw cost-cutting help lift underlying pretax profits to £9.9m from £9.2m a year earlier. Statutory pre-tax profits for the six months to September 30 more than halved to £7.4m from £16.1m a year earlier. It saw group revenues fall 10% or 2.4% on an underlying basis to £409.2m after it cut capacity by 9%.

FlyBe shares fell by 0.40p to close at 11.30p.

Flybe is looking at cutting costs and flight capacity.