Bye bye Blackbird for airline Flybe
AIRLINE Flybe has resolved the last piece of its legacy jigsaw with the redeployment of all its remaining surplus Embraer E195 aircraft.
The redeployment, which the airline termed Project Blackbird, means that of the original fleet of 14 E195s, all have now been sent elsewhere.
Flybe had previously announced solutions for eight of the aircraft with five being handed back to lessors, two have been forwarded to airport operator, Cardiff Airport Ltd, flying to a mix of destinations across the UK and Mainland Europe and a final one to Coventry-based Rigby Group to be based at Exeter and flying eight routes to five destinations in Mainland Europe starting in March 2016.
Of the remaining six, one aircraft will replace a Q400 aircraft at Newquay under a redefined Public Service Obligation (PSO) agreement with Cornwall Council, two will be based at Doncaster Sheffield Airport, flying to key cities and regional centres across Mainland Europe, while the remaining three will operate at Birmingham and Manchester Airports. Two of these will provide additional capacity on high load factor routes and the third E195 will provide Ejet standby cover across Flybe’s network.
Completion of Project Blackbird delivers a £40m mitigation versus Flybe’s previously indicated obligation of £80m over the remaining term of the aircraft leases.
The airline said it currently anticipated that the financial cost of resolving the remaining E195s would be £20m this year, reducing to around £10m next year, and then to £6m the year after and £4m in the following year.
Saad Hammad, Chief Executive Officer, said: “This announcement marks the definitive completion of Project Blackbird. The arrangements announced today are a superb result for all Flybe stakeholders. They avoid the need for any upfront payment, enhance UK regional connectivity and have mitigated exposures to Flybe. With the last of our major legacy issues behind us, we can now focus all our attention on becoming a world-class regional airline.”
