Flybe - Britain's largest regional low cost airline 
Flybe is the UK's no.1 regional low cost airline and is based at Exeter, with other major hubs at Birmingham, Southampton and Belfast City airports. The airline started life as Jersey European Airways, then became British European Airways in 2000, shortened to become Flybe in July 2002.
This low fare airline is used frequently for business trips, but is also very popular for cheap day trips and weekend breaks, for shopping, skiing or sports events, or for cheaper long holidays. Current annual passenger numbers lie around 5 million, around 2 million of these from Birmingham International Airport alone.
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Flybe Routes and Destinations
In total Flybe handles around 100 routes* from 20 UK airports. More than 80% of Flybe flights are UK domestic, including a large choice of routes to Jersey in the Channel Islands. European routes include a particularly good choice of destinations in France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland. Most of their European flights depart from Birmingham, Norwich, Exeter and Southampton airports.
Some of these routes are seasonal, such as the winter skiing routes to Chambery, Geneva and Salzburg. Scheduled Spanish routes to Alicante, Almeria, Murcia, Malaga and Palma are offered from Birmingham, Exeter and Southampton.
*Flybe's route network is now expanding following their acquisition of BA Connect.
For fares from £60 return including taxes see...
Flybe Flights to Jersey from Birmingham, Exeter, Gatwick, Norwich and Southampton.
Also for about £60 Exeter to Paris Flights are excellent value
Many good value fares on flights from Norwich to Malaga start from £70.
Flybe Flights to Toulouse start from less than £70 from Birmingham and Bristol.
New routes to Germany, flybe have Flights to Hanover starting from less than £60 rtn.
Passenger Opinions, Comments and Reviews
General opinions on Skytrax about FlyBe are good. Passengers particularly liked the low fares and allocated seating. Service was also praised, with flight crews considered to be "efficient and courteous". Food was classed as good but "overpriced". Comments on flights included: "clean aircraft", "flights punctual" and "plenty of legroom", some seats were classed as "a bit worn". Wanderlust magazine readers voted Flybe.com as 'best airline website in the UK' in 2007.
Airline research company Skytrax classes Flybe as a 3 star low cost airline.
Other Useful Information
| Booking |
Book as far in advance as possible and look out for early cheap promotions on new routes. Payment by credit card costs an extra £1.75, debit card payments also carry a (small) charge. Flybe Economy Plus tickets have more flexibility and advantages such as extra baggage allowance. |
| Seat Reservation |
Flybe allocate seats before departure. Prebooking seats online costs £5, extra legroom seats cost £15. Seats have up to 31 inches of seat pitch (legroom between rows). |
| Food |
Meals are not included in the flight price, but snacks and drinks are for sale on board. You may also bring your own food but no liquids. |
| Baggage |
Economy Class: Checked-in items are now charged extra, luggage allowance is 25 kg per person. Economy Plus: free 30 kg luggage allowance. Hand luggage allowance is now 10 kg, no bigger than 50x 35x 23cm. Excess baggage costs £5.50/kg. Sports equipment and bicycles can be carried for an extra fee, prams and buggies free. |
| Check-In |
Desks open 2 hours before departure, check-in a minimum of 1 hour before as there can be long queues, 45 mins if you are travelling with hand baggage only. |
| Flight Changes |
No refund or free transfer will be given for missed flights, (some passengers mention refunds in a few exceptionable circumstances). Name changes cost £25 per flight, but the ticket must then also be upgraded to the next applicable fare through the Flybe customer call centre. |
| Aircraft |
Flybe have a growing fleet of Bombardier Dash8 Q400 passenger planes (78 seats), and a small number of BAe 146-200 (97 seater) and 146-300 (110 seater) aircraft. The airline will have a fleet size of between 59 and 91 aircraft by 2009 - depending on the number of options it takes up. |
Latest News
March 2007
BA Connect is merged into Flybe. Flybe ceases to fly from Bristol Airport (except for Jersey). Many new international flight routes announced for summer 2007.
September 2006
New routes to Ireland: Southampton to Galway from October 2006, Birmingham to Galway from March 2007.
June 2006
Flybe to start flying to Germany for the first time: Southampton to Düsseldorf & Hanover daily.
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