Flybe Limited is a British airline based at Exeter International Airport, England. It operates over 180 routes between over 55 European airports. The airline's largest base is Southampton Airport and it has other large bases at Manchester Airport, Birmingham Airport and Belfast City Airport and a total of 14 aircraft and crew bases across the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.

History

Flybe started operations on 1 November 1979 as Jersey European Airways (JEA), after taking over the operations of Intra Airways. Jersey European Airways was the brainchild of John Habin, a resident of Jersey and the majority investor in JEA. Having sold Aviation Beauport and other business interests, Habin established a few key routes from Jersey to the UK. Jersey European Airways was taken over in 1983 by Jack Walker's Walker Steel Group who were already the parent company of Blackpool based charter airline Spacegrand Aviation. The two airlines were run separately, with partially shared management, until their amalgamation within the Walker Aviation Group in 1985, under the Jersey European name.

The airline rebranded as British European in June 2000, shortening this title to Flybe on 18 July 2002 and repositioning itself as a full service, low-fare airline. On 3 November 2006 it was announced that agreement in principle had been reached for Flybe to acquire BA Connect, with the exception of London City Airport services. The acquisition was completed in March 2007. The airline is owned by Rosedale Aviation Holdings (69%), Flybe staff (16%) and British Airways (15%) as a consequence of the acquisition of BA Connect. It has 3,000 employees at January 2008.

Acquisition of BA Connect

On 5 March 2007 Flybe completed the acquisition of the former regional airline business of British Airways. The purchase was first announced on 3 November 2006. British Airways will ensure that Flybe has sufficient cash funding (£96m) in order to achieve its growth targets and the transition out of the BA Connect fleet. In return British Airways has acquired a 15% stake in the airline. The acquisition (which did not include BA Connect's London City Airport routes, which have been taken over by BA CityFlyer) has significantly increased Flybe's route network in both the UK and continental Europe making Flybe Europe's largest regional airline.

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