Flybe has reported disappointing sales figures which mean it will just break even for the year, causing shares to slump.
Passenger revenues fell 3.8 per cent to £126.8 million in the last three months of 2014. Shares fell by more than 20 per cent on the annoucement of these figures.
The airline believes that it will just break even, before tax, by the year end in March.
Flybe is currently in the midst of a three-year transformation plan in a bid to cut costs. It has implemented job cuts, cut unprofitable routes and reduced seat capacity. The airline also introduced six new routes from London City Airport last year, but the uptake on these has not met with expectations, due in part to an increase in competition.
Flybe is also planning on offloading its surplus airplanes but admitted that it is behind schedule. It now has around nine more airplanes than it needs for next year at a cost of around £26 million.
Chief executive officer Saad Hammad said that improvement in its core UK business continues to progress. "Only a year into our three-year transformation we now have a platform which enables us to compete in a tough environment where the consumer demands value."
Flybe is Europe's largest regional airline with 67 planes flying 199 routes across 14 countries. It plans to introduce a further 20 new routes during the summer.
