HOW FLYBE BECAME A SOARAWAY SUCCESS

FLYBE posted its first profit in six years despite the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels causing passengers to cancel bookings.

The airline, that largely connects Britain’s regional cities, embarked on a fierce cost-cutting drive after it almost fell into administration.

But the shares fell 5.5pc, or 3.3p to 55.5p as investors took profits in the wake of the strong results.

Full-year figures showed the firm returned to the black as its threeyear turnaround plan finally took off. Flybe posted a £2.7m profit for the year to March 31 following the £23.6m loss in 2015.

Sales increased to £623.8m from £574.1m.

Chief executive Saad Hammad has taken an axe to costs, closing six regional bases. He also cut 500 jobs of which 179 were pilots.

The firm had racked up crippling debts and was forced to extract itself from expensive plane leases choosing to buy aircraft instead.

Hammad said: ‘This year was the second full year of our three-year transformation plan and our performance has been very encouraging.

‘We achieved profitability for the first time as a public company. As a result of all the action we have taken, Flybe is now a much more resilient business.’

During the past 12 months it opened two new bases, in Cardiff and Doncaster, and launched 52 new routes. There was a 5.9pc increase in passenger numbers and an 8.2pc increase in passenger revenues.

Hammad said it had been a difficult year and the industry had faced tough conditions.

‘These included the threat of terrorist activity and industrial unrest in France, which accounts for around 12pc of Flybe’s seat capacity,’ he said.