"Low-Cost
Airline To Add More Routes"
Newsletter - 20th February 2004
LOW-cost airline flybe yesterday announced that it is to double its capacity from Scotland with five additional routes, including two to Northern Ireland.
The new routes will link Glasgow and Edinburgh with Belfast and Exeter, and add a Glasgow to Southampton service to the existing route from Edinburgh to Southampton.
From March 1, flybe will start a four times daily service between Belfast and Edinburgh with fares starting from £15. Tickets go on sale on www. flybe.com from Monday, February 23, with an introductory £9.99 return offer for one week only.
A new route from Glasgow to Belfast will be added from March 28. The airline is also increasing the frequency of its service to Exeter with the introduction of daily flights.
In total, the airline will be operating 364 flights from Scotland each week.
The airline said it plans to carry more than a million passengers to and from Scotland in the coming year also reported that last year was its most successful in Scotland, with passenger numbers up by 50 per cent. flybe said the new services are aimed at both the leisure and the business markets.
Announcing details in Edinburgh yesterday, flybe managing director Jim French stressed the importance of Northern Ireland in its route development strategy.
"We have gone through a massive transition in the airline over the last couple of years. Belfast is very much a key part of the business.
"We started a route to Southampton from Belfast last summer which has worked extremely well. The opportunity has now come where we can add Glasgow and Edinburgh onto our network from Belfast City and also Exeter.
"By adding these new routes we are joining all the dots to make it a cohesive and tight network.''
flybe's new Scottish service
is set to go head to head with that offered by rival easyJet which flies from
Belfast International to both Scottish cities.
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