British Airways' subsidiary service BA Connect is to be bought by Flybe
Exeter-based airline Flybe has agreed to buy British Airways' subsidiary service BA Connect. The airline operates key routes out of London City Airport, Manchester and New York. These services will not be part of the sale.
British Airways will have a 15% investment in the new business on completion of the disposal. BA chief executive Willie Walsh said: "Point to point regional operations are not a strategic part of our business and we believe that such activities are better undertaken by a regional low cost airline.
"Despite the best efforts of the entire team at BA Connect, we do not see any prospect of profitability in its current form.
"The proposed sale to Flybe provides the best opportunity to secure the long-term future for the many dedicated staff in BA Connect. London City services complement our mainline business at Heathrow. For this reason they are not included in the proposed sale."
It is envisaged that once the sale of the regional business of BA Connect to Flybe is completed, there will be a transition period until the start of the summer schedule on March 25, 2007 while the handover of responsibilities is undertaken.
Flybe confirmed it will phase out the Connect fleet as soon as possible, and will have 70 aircraft by the end of next year. As a result the airline claimed it would be Europe”s largest regional airline operator.
Flybe chief commercial officer Mike Rutter told ABTN: ”We are in the unique position of being able to bring in more aircraft and accelerate our growth at the same time. We are the biggest carrier in the smaller markets and the deal extends our ability to grow in key markets, especially those of the European business city centres such as Paris and Frankfurt.”
Key routes that BA Connect serves and that will now be brought into the Flybe portfolio include Manchester and Scotland, and Rutter confirmed these ”are key bases”. Plans include expanding the amount of bases to 95.
”I”m so excited about this development. Because if you think where we were four years ago and then compare it to where we are about to be, it”s amazing.”