Flybe Ltd, the new version of the Flybe today confirmed its planned routes and put flights on sale. The previous Flybe went bust in March 2020. The majority of the flights are from their two hubs at Birmingham and Belfast City but other UK airports will also offer services. In total, it will initially operate 530 flights a week.
They will be using a fleet of 32 Q-400 propeller aircraft, some of which came from the previous Flybe. You can see the new livery in the photo above. These aircraft are very economical to run but I am not a fan at all with their noisy props.
The airline will operate services to and from:
Aberdeen
Amsterdam
Avignon
Belfast City
Birmingham
Brest
East Midlands
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Inverness
Leeds Bradford
London Heathrow
Manchester
Newcastle
Southampton
Toulon
Here is the full list with start dates:
- Belfast City (BHD) to Birmingham (BHX) From 13th April up to 4x Daily
- Belfast City (BHD) to Glasgow (GLA From 14th April up to 4x Daily
- Amsterdam (AMS) to Birmingham (BHX) From 28th April Daily
- Amsterdam (AMS) to East Midlands (EMA) From 28th April Daily
- Belfast City (BHD) to Leeds Bradford (LBA) From 28th April up to 3x Daily
- Belfast City (BHD) to London Heathrow (LHR) From 28th April up to 2x Daily
- Leeds Bradford (LBA) to London Heathrow (LHR) From 28th April Up to 3x Daily
- Amsterdam (AMS) to Belfast City (BHD) From 28th May Daily
- Amsterdam (AMS) to London Heathrow (LHR) From 29th May up to 2x Daily
- Belfast City (BHD) to Edinburgh (EDI) From 23rd June up to 3x Daily
- Belfast City (BHD) to East Midlands (EMA) From 7th July up to 2x Daily
- Belfast City (BHD) to Manchester (MAN) From 7th July up to 4x Daily
- Avignon Provence (AVN) to Birmingham (BHX) From 9th July Weekly
- Brest Bretagne (BES) to Birmingham (BHX) From 9th July Weekly
- Avignon Provence (AVN) to Southampton (SOU) From 23rd July Weekly
- Southampton (SOU) to Toulon Hyères (TLN) From 24th July Weekly
- Belfast City (BHD) to Southampton (SOU) From 28th July up to 2x Daily
- Birmingham (BHX) to Edinburgh (EDI) From 28th July up to 4x Daily
- Birmingham (BHX) to Glasgow (GLA) From 28th July up to 3x Daily
- Aberdeen (ABZ) to Birmingham (BHX) From 18th August Daily
- Aberdeen (ABZ) to Belfast City (BHD) From 25th August up to 4x Weekly
- Belfast City (BHD) to Inverness (INV) From 25th August up to 4x Weekly
- Belfast City (BHD) to Newcastle (NCL) From 25th August Daily
To celebrate the relaunch Flybe is offering £10 off each one-way fare for purchases made today, 22 March only. Prices start at £29.99 one way, which seems pretty reasonable. Part of the issues for me with the previous Flybe was the very high prices and unreliablity. You can buy fares on Flybe.com here.
There are three categories of fares. I was quoted £73.75 for a return flight from London Heathrow to Amsterdam after the £20 discount. Here you can see the different categories of fare and how much it was to upgrade to the next fares. It’s definitely in line with the other low cost airlines’ model. For a non-discounted fare, I’d be looking at £173.75 return with a normal 23kg bag which is pretty expensive. Obviously if you can pack light, the 15kg option would only be £129.75.
Flybe CEO, Dave Pflieger, said:
“We are delighted to now be out for sale and starting service next month. We think our new flights will benefit everyone who wants low fares and more flights to go on holiday and visit loved ones.
“Our new network will also ensure better regional connectivity inside the UK and between various UK and EU regions.”
“Our goal is to create an airline that people love, and we aim to do that by making air travel on Flybe an easy and enjoyable experience so you will fly with us again in the future.
