Flybe Airline is quitting Gatwick Airport
Almasalla Travel News -Flybe Airline is quitting Gatwick Airport by selling its runway space there to budget rival easyJet for £20m.
The UK Exeter-based carrier, which currently flies about 340 flights a week between Gatwick and destinations around the UK, said its pilots have agreed a five per cent pay cut, while it will also cut more jobs.
It recently warned annual losses for the year to March will be deeper than feared at around £23m as it is squeezed by higher fuel costs and the tough economy.
Flybe will cease flights from Gatwick next March, where it currently flies more than half a million passengers to destinations around the UK. EasyJet today said it will review the routes, but there is no obligation for it to maintain them.
Flybe is selling the 25 pairs of take-off and landing slots to raise vital funds after struggling badly during the downturn. It blamed higher taxes and “discriminatory pricing” at Gatwick, owed by private equity and sovereign wealth funds, for its decision to quit the airport.
Flybe flies to and from Newcastle, Jersey, the Isle of Man, Inverness, Guernsey, Belfast and Newquay from Gatwick.
It flew 550,000 passengers from the airport in its latest financial year.
It said there will be no change to the routes’ frequency or timings while it still operates the slot.
