Flybe cuts summer and autumn schedules

UK-based regional carrier flybe announced that it would be cutting its summer and autumn scheduled flights, citing “late aircraft deliveries” and lack of additional aircraft. In a letter posted online, its CEO David Pflieger delivered the news to its customers, saying that the cancellations would occur between 28th July to 29th October 2022. Despite flybe’s ambitious plans to increase the number of flights to existing and new destinations in the summer, such plans took a turn when two unnamed aircraft leasing companies that the carrier relied upon could not fulfill their commitment.

Whilst other aircraft were able to be rented and obtained from two different airlines in Greece and Spain, this was still not enough to meet demand. The airline hopes to assumes its increase in flights as soon as these late aircraft are delivered at the end of October.

In his letter, David Pflieger stated: “This new schedule will be fully supported by the aircraft we do have available, and we will still introduce more flights later this year — after we receive our delayed aircraft. This is not a decision that I have taken lightly, and as you would expect we are in daily conversations with all involved to see if anything might change that would allow us to resume our original plans at an earlier date.”