Flybe Group Regulatory News (FLYB)

Flybe Group plc

("Flybe" or "the Group")

Flybe announceS MAJOR EXPANSION WITH five year deal at London City Airport

· Routes to/from London City to provide UK regions and Ireland with direct access to the Capital

· New routes from/to Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, Inverness and Exeter to commence 27 October 2014, on sale now

In a major expansion that will see the airline significantly boost connectivity between the UK regions and Ireland to and from London, Flybe is delighted to announce that it has signed a five-year agreement with London City Airport (LCY) to commence domestic and international operations to/from London City with effect from 27 October 2014. Routes are on sale immediately.

Flybe will deploy five growth aircraft for its LCY operation. The aircraft will be based at three of its regional bases, and are expected to fly up to circa 500,000 passengers annually on a schedule that will see four times daily services from/to Edinburgh and Dublin, three times daily services from/to Belfast and Exeter and twice daily from/to Inverness.

These new Flybe routes will boost connectivity from the UK regions to London, providing direct links for customers in the regions to the heart of London's financial district. Flybe expects the new routes will also appeal to a significant number of City and Canary Wharf-based passengers who need to access the UK regions and neighbouring European destinations quickly and efficiently. For these customers whose travel plans are time-critical, Flybe's new services from LCY will prove especially convenient, being significantly faster overall than travelling via Heathrow or Gatwick, or travelling by road or rail. Routes to Edinburgh and Dublin are expected to be in particular demand.

Regional core services within the UK and from/to Ireland will be supplemented with off-peak leisure flights to selected Ski, Regional French and Northern Spanish destinations. More information about these routes will be announced in the coming weeks. Flights between LCY and Edinburgh, Belfast City, Dublin, Inverness and Exeter are now on sale at www.flybe.com

The agreement with LCY follows on from Flybe's successful launch of eight new routes from Birmingham and a further four new routes launched from London Southend with franchise partner, Stobart Air. It is also a major step forward in meeting the Group's stated strategic objective to expand its branded scheduled commercial operation by developing new routes and bases within the UK following its successful fund raise of £150 million last month.

Saad Hammad, Chief Executive Officer, Flybe, commented:

"Today's announcement is a significant landmark in the re-birth of Flybe. We are delighted to re-enter the London market at London's most convenient airport following a rigorous profitability analysis utilising our strict route assessment model.

"Dedicating five growth aircraft initially to these new routes is a major statement of intent and we look forward to building a successful and growing presence there over the coming years.

"Flybe is today already connecting over 7 million passengers a year across the UK and Europe. With a major London connection, we reaffirm our place as the UK's largest regional airline."

Declan Collier, Chief Executive Officer, London City Airport, confirmed the importance of the arrival of Flybe at the airport:

"London City Airport (LCY) is poised for significant growth in the next ten years - growth that will see it achieve 120,000 flight movements per annum, with an associated 6 million passengers by 2023.

"Today's announcement is an extremely important step on that journey - Flybe will bring an immediate uplift of up to half a million new passengers to the airport. In addition, Flybe's selection of routes serves to cement further LCY's status as the business traveller's airport of choice, underpinned by our 'location, convenience and speed' customer propositions.

"We look forward to a long and successful partnership."

23 April 2014

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Notes to Editors

Flybe

Flybe is Europe's largest regional airline - 171 routes serving 16 countries from 84 departure points, 34 UK/53 European airports* (all routes on sale Apr '14 - Oct '14). Flybe operates more UK domestic flights than any other airline (UKCAA Mar '13-Feb '14) and is the largest scheduled airline by air traffic movements at Belfast City, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, the Isle of Man, Inverness, Manchester and Southampton airports (UK CAA Mar '13 - Feb '14). The Group operates 66 aircraft - 41 Bombardier Q400, 14 Embraer 195 & 11 E175; has codeshares with BA, Air France, Etihad, KLM; and was Amsterdam Schiphol's Airline of the Year 2012 Europe. 

* Flown under the Flybe brand (26 routes/13 airports exclusively served by Flybe's franchise partner, Loganair; and six routes and four airports exclusively served by new franchise partner, Stobart Air).

London City Airport

London City Airport (LCY) is the only London airport situated in the heart of London, just three miles from Canary Wharf, seven miles from the City and 10 miles from London's West End and linked to all via the Docklands Light Railway. Catering for around 3.4 million passengers (63% travelling on business) and 70,000 movements annually, in 2013 LCY celebrated 26 years of operation. LCY offers a unique rapid transit proposition - a short check in (door to lounge) of around 20 minutes, and a shorter arrival (tarmac to train) of around 15 minutes. 10 airlines fly out of LCY, serving 41 mainly European destinations, eight of which were new for 2013. The airport has permission to increase its operation to 120,000 movements per annum - carrying 6 million passengers - which it intends to do by 2023. Further information about the airport and its services can be found at www.londoncityairport.com.