Flybe begins new flights programme from Birmingham Airport
EUROPEAN regional airline Flybe has begun introducing its new flights from Birmingham Airport.
The inaugural flight to Porto begins today (Friday) with its new four-times weekly service to Alicante beginning tomorrow. These follow the introduction of the new daily service to Florence – the first time the route has been available from Birmingham – and a new service to Cologne.
The airline, which has introduced a new purple-themed livery for its aeroplanes, used the Cologne flight to promote Anglo-German trade relations, flying regional trade ambassador Peter Mathews and Beatrix Troger from the German British Chamber of Commerce to Germany for talks.
Accompanying them on the Bombardier Q400 flight were Mandy Haque, Sales & Travel Trade Relationship Manager at Birmingham Airport and Flybe’s Regional Sales Manager, Paul Willoughby.
Paul Simmons, Flybe’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “The start of our new routes mark the tangible reality of our major expansion at Birmingham and we are delighted that such an influential business contingent was able to join us on our ‘purple flight’ to Cologne.”
Paul Kehoe, Birmingham Airport’s CEO, said the eight new Flybe routes being introduced at the airport were an important boost both for the hub and for the regional economy as a whole.
The remaining four of Flybe’s new routes start next month, with Bordeaux, Palma and Toulouse on May 13 and Newquay on May 16.
With a record 12 aircraft based at the airport, Birmingham has become Flybe’s largest base. This summer, it will be operating 32 routes to and from Birmingham with a total choice of up to 381 return flights a week.
In addition, the airline is also operating three new ‘twilight’ routes to Ibiza, Palma and Reykjavik with the late evening flights operating three times a week in the height of summer, from June 29 to September 7. The flights will be operated by Flybe’s 88-seat Embraer jets.
The aircraft will fly to Ibiza, Palma and Reykjavik on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday evenings. They will fly directly into the principal Spanish airports and into Iceland’s largest airport, Reykjavik-Keflavik. The Birmingham to Reykjavik flights will be providing the first ever scheduled services between the two cities.
