LONDON (Alliance News) - Flybe Group PLC on Wednesday said it swung to a profit in the first half of its financial year as revenue and passenger numbers grew, but it warned that it faces a number of challenges in the second half.
The European airline said it made a pretax profit of GBP22.9 million in the six months ended September 30, having suffered a GBP3.3 million pretax loss in the same period the year before, as revenue grew 10% to GBP339.6 million from GBP307.8 million.
Of this, Flybe UK revenue rose 11% to GBP330.9 million which it said was driven by a 13% increase in seat capacity to 5.9 million seats. Passenger numbers grew 10% to 4.5 million passengers.
Flybe Aviation Services, however, which provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services saw a fall in revenue to GBP18.5 million from GBP19.3 million.
In the third quarter so far, seat capacity has risen 13%, but the percentage of seats sold has fallen to 51% from 56%, while passenger revenue per seat is down 6%.
"Competitive pressures are expected to grow in the second half with industry-wide benefit from lower fuel costs and growth in seat capacity. Against this backdrop, we are remaining disciplined in cost control and our capacity growth plans. Our focus will be on building service frequency on our established routes to maximise our appeal to time-sensitive business travellers," Chief Executive Saad Hammad said in a statement.
"While there are still a number of challenges ahead, Flybe enters the winter season with solid momentum," he added.
Shares in Flybe were trading down 2.8% at 87.00 pence Wednesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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