Flybe falls 8% on flat passenger volumes and revenues

Flybe fell to the bottom of the FTSE All-Share index Thursday after reporting flat passenger volumes and revenues. Shares in the company fell more than 8% after it said passenger revenue per seat was in line with the same quarter last year, while passenger volumes were at 1.8m. Flybe’s load factor dropped 2 percentage points to 68%. The company, which has announced a code-share agreement with Virgin Atlantic, said this was due to a temporary increase in capacity following the Paris terror attacks. “We’re on track despite a very difficult environment,” said Saad Hammad, CE of Flybe. “The Paris attacks had a very dramatic effect on travel across all destinations. Demand has recovered, confidence [in air travel] has heightened and I’m cautiously optimistic for the future.” Hammad said Flybe had come under pressure from rival airlines adding routes to their network. “Lower fuel costs have seen lots of capacity injected into the market — EasyJet have more than doubled capacity growth, for instance, and that has had a dilutionary impact on yields,” he said. “But we’ve been able to weather these exogenous shocks well, and the new Flybe is much more resilient.” The company told investors its additional capacity for this summer was “selling through as planned”. However, with 21% of summer capacity sold, it remains three percentage points behind the same quarter last year.<br/>