 The airline connects 37 airports in seven countries |
Low-cost airline Flybe has announced soaring half-year profits. The company had pre-tax profits of �14m for the period March to September 2004 compared with �3.1m for the same period last year.
With a 31-strong aircraft fleet, the budget airline expects to carry 4.5m passengers in the 12 months ending March 2005.
Earlier this week it announced twice-daily flights from Exeter to Charles de Gaulle in Paris starting next March.
Domestic success
The new service to Charles de Gaulle Airport will offer forward links to 250 destinations all around the world.
The company now has operating bases across much of the UK and by the end of 2004 it will operate 71 routes.
Jim French, Flybe's managing director, says the company has created a new breed of airline by fusing the service cultures of traditional airlines with the best of the low-cost carrier services.
He said: "These record profits and traffic figures demonstrate the robustness of our 'domestic focused' low-cost business model, and builds upon two consecutive years of profit growth."
Mr French says more than 80% of the airline's traffic was on domestic routes, with only 10% on French routes and 10% on sun and ski routes.
Flybe is the largest scheduled airline at Exeter, the Channel Islands, Southampton, Birmingham and Belfast City airports with routes connecting 37 airports in seven countries.
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