Flybe announces new routes and increased flights out of Birmingham

SHORT haul airline Flybe is further expanding its schedule of flights from Birmingham Airport with the launch of two new destinations and increased frequency on other routes.

Flybe, the airport’s largest carrier with 1.5m passengers a year, has added daily flights to Oslo and Hamburg to its European roster.
 
The airline has also announced that it is extending summer flights at six other cities to all-year-round schedules. The cities are: Cologne, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Florence, Oporto and Reykjavik.

Cologne operates daily with Florence and Bordeaux scheduled five times a week, Toulouse six flights a week and Oporto and Reykjavik, both three services per week.
 
The increases mean that it total, Flybe will now operate up to 350 flights a week from Birmingham on 26 routes as part of its 2014-15 winter schedule.

The move is part of the airline’s strategy to develop its UK network after its £150m fundraising in March.

The airline’s European commercial director Fred Kochak said: “We are delighted to announce nine new routes from Birmingham International this winter. Two of them are brand new cities to the Flybe map.

“We believe there is a considerable amount of pent up demand from the Midlands which is unserved. These new services are going to save people time and money getting to places of business and visiting friends and family because they have a direct connection form their local airport.
 
“With regional routes like these it is important to have a blend of business passengers as well as those wanting short weekend breaks so we’ve chosen a selection of routes that will appeal to both types of customer.”

Birmingham is now the airline’s largest base. Over the last 12 months it has transported more than 1.5m passengers from the Midlands to other regions in the UK as well as continental Europe and helped boost overall passenger volumes at the airport.