Airline reports sales up despite weather

[February 6th 2009]

Regional airline Flybe says flight sales today are up with strong demand in Scotland, the north of England and Wales.

Flybe says day of departure ticket sales today are up by three times the usual rate. Passengers are said to be scrambling to find alternative connections to enable them to by-pass airports affected by snow for onward travel to Gatwick airport and capitals around Europe.

The start of the Six Nations rugby tournament this weekend is also driving sales as fans look to make alternative travel arrangements to get to matches in Edinburgh and Dublin, especially from Cardiff and Southampton airports.

Flybe says it is the largest UK domestic point to point airline, serving five times more domestic routes than any other airline. The airline says it has not had to cancel any of its 400 plus flights so far today. And since heavy snow hit Britain at the beginning of the week, Flybe says it has cancelled only 117 flights.

“This week has been operationally challenging for everyone but the strength of our regional network model has more than proved itself in allowing us to keep Britain on the move," comments Flybe chief commercial officer, Mike Rutter.

"Despite the fact that the heavy snow had obviously forced us to cancel some flights earlier in the week, we’ve not come anywhere near the volume of cancellations experienced by other airlines for which we are extremely proud," Rutter continues.

Flybe is the largest regional airline in Europe, operating over 190 routes serving 13 countries. Among the UK airports served by the airline are Gatwick, Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Exeter, Cardiff, and Belfast City.

“Our staff have done an absolutely amazing job in keeping passenger disruption to a minimum and, from reports coming in from all over the country, new passengers flying with us are more than appreciative of our reliability and quality standard of service we are managing to maintain against all the odds,” says Rutter.

Written by: Nick Purdom

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