Flybe bookings hit by turbulence
Shares in UK airline Flybe tanked today after it revealed bookings slowed significantly in September as the financial gloom took hold.
The carrier, which flies from airports including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster, Edinburgh and East Midlands, said winter ticket sales were below expectations after the poor September performance.
Shares dropped 35% as the group said it was too early to say whether the slowdown was a short-term reaction to the economic gloom or “a long-term market adjustment”.
Sales in the six months to September were up 9% but this was 1% lower than expected.
Chief executive and chairman Jim French said he was closely monitoring the recent slowdown.
The group's latest statement follows a profit warning in May when it said trading had been hit by high oil prices.
Winter bookings were still 1% ahead of last year, despite the slowdown in September.
The airline reported that passenger numbers increased by 200,000 to 6.4 million in the first half year, as it came up against weaker comparatives with the previous year when planes were grounded by the Icelandic ash cloud.
However, stripping out the impact of the ash cloud, passenger numbers were down 1.7%.
Passenger revenues per seat increased 6% and the group said flights from UK regions on European city business routes performed well.
Andrew Fitchie, an airline analyst at Investec, said the results were disappointing and said he had slashed his full-year profit forecasts for the company from £20.1m to £6.4m.
The group is likely to announce further revisions to its capacity, he added. Earlier this year, it said it would keep capacity flat as it adjusts to difficult conditions.
