Highlands and Islands Airports Limited

Flybe, Europe’s largest and most successful regional airline, today starts operating its 2008/9 Winter programme directly serving five routes namely Belfast City, Birmingham, Manchester and Southampton and  38 flights a week alone to London Gatwick.

Mindful of the need to provide value for money during these challenging economic times, Flybe’s full winter schedule includes an affordable range of popular sun and ski destinations. As a direct result of strong passenger demand, an extended Saturday ski service has been added operating through to April to leading Alpine resorts from six regional airports including Birmingham and Southampton.

The 2008-09 winter schedule also marks the start of Flybe’s franchise partnership with Loganair that – with Flybe Connections, a convenient new ‘one-stop’ through-booking service - opens up a vast selection of new affordable routes for Flybe passengers. As an example, travellers can now fly all the way from Inverness to the Isle of Man with just one transaction. Removing the need to make separate bookings means that both Flybe and Loganair’s customers can now fully benefit from an expanded, efficient and friendly service that connects people across the UK and Europe.

The launch of the schedule sees Flybe reinforcing its commitment to bringing convenient, low cost travel to the region.  Fares are available for booking now and throughout the winter at www.flybe.com from £27.99 one way including taxes and charges.

Flybe’s Chief Commercial Officer, Mike Rutter, comments: “The launch of our winter schedule from Inverness sees us continuing to deliver on our promise to bring great value fares and travel choice to the region. It’s also an historic day for both Flybe and our new franchise partner, Loganair as Flybe branded aircraft can now be seen flying from as far afield as the Shetland Islands in the north to Malaga in the south!

“We look forward to welcoming new and existing customers onboard over the next few months and encourage those with travel plans to book early to enjoy the lowest possible fares.”