British regional airline Flybe forges link with Eastern Airways

Leading regional airline strengthens continued commitment to serving Scotland with six routes now on sale including Sumburgh, Kirkwall and Stornaway

Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, has today (6^th June 2017) announced it has signed Heads of Terms with Eastern Airways to establish a new alliance. It is the first step towards finalising a five year franchise partnership under which Eastern will operate its scheduled route network under the Flybe brand; and agreeing a joint revenue and risk sharing agreement, covering four Eastern aircraft, to fly existing Flybe branded routes from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester. The four aircraft will operate under the Flybe franchise and significantly improve connectivity for Scotland.

The aim is for contracts to be finalised and signed within the next few weeks, with tickets on sale from today at www.flybe.com for the six routes that will operate under the joint venture. One way fares are from £49.46 including taxes and charges and effective for travel from 1st September 2017. The routes are as follows*:

Eastern is a well-established UK based regional airline, whose head office is at Humberside Airport. It operates scheduled domestic and short haul international services and private charter services, with hubs at Aberdeen, Norwich, Teesside, Newcastle, Southampton, Leeds, Cardiff and Paris and its scheduled network including routes from these airports, will be available to book on flybe.com from 1st September.

Christine Ourmieres-Widener, Flybe CEO said:

This alliance with Eastern Airways is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the Flybe network. We already operate flights at a number of common airports and this will enable passengers to connect to a greater number of destinations, across the UK and into Europe, all booked through flybe.com. Eastern will operate routes from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Manchester to offer an enhanced service to passengers based in Scotland and travelling to Scotland. Combined with our flights to Heathrow from Edinburgh and Aberdeen, this demonstrates our strong commitment to serving Scotland.

Richard Lake, Chief Executive of Eastern Airways, added:

This alliance will benefit both airlines as not only does it strengthen Flybe’s network, but broadens our distribution and enhances connection opportunities for our customers through its global airline association.  We have specialised in fixed-wing flying in the oil and gas market for many years and our expertise will provide a greater opportunity to further develop offshore connectivity to Flybe’s network.