Tag Archives: 4093

Flybe flight BE 202 from Manchester to Inverness skids off the runway after landing

Flybe (Exeter) flight BE 202 from Manchester to Inverness landed at the Scottish airport at 10:14 am yesterday morning, January 20, before encountering ice on the runway and skidding off onto the nearby grass.

The aircraft involved was the pictured Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) registered G-JEDW (msn 4093).

None of the 47 passengers and four crewmembers were injured by the incident and all were immediately transferred to the terminal building by bus.

Temperatures of -3° were recorded around the airport following the coldest night of the year in Scotland where temperatures dropped to -12°.

A Flybe spokesman said: “Flybe can confirm that, when taxiing at low speed at the end of the runway having landed safely at Inverness Airport this morning, the wheels of the Q400 aircraft skidded on the surface of the airfield causing it to slide onto the grass.

“The 47 passengers and four crew were unharmed and exited the aircraft by the stairs for bus transfer to the terminal where they collected their luggage as normal.

“The safety of its passengers and crew is the airline’s number one priority and Flybe regrets any inconvenience experienced as a result of this incident.”

Report by Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock from Manchester.

Read more (with photos) from the Mirror: CLICK HERE

Flybe aircraft slide show:

http://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-2/Airlines-Europe-2/Flybe

EasyJet to acquire 25 pairs of London Gatwick slots from Flybe

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has announced and confirmed it plans to acquire 25 pairs of arrival and departure slots London’s Gatwick Airport from Flybe (Exeter) for £20 million ($25.7 million). The company issued this statement:

EasyJet plc can confirm it has completed an agreement with Flybe Group plc to acquire 25 pairs of arrival and departure slots at Gatwick airport for a total consideration of £20 million. The acquisition is subject to the approval of Flybe’s shareholders.

The slots will transfer from summer 2014 and will allow easyJet to provide additional frequencies on popular existing routes from Gatwick as well as add new destinations across the UK and Europe.

In return, Flybe issued this statement:

Flybe confirmed to the London Stock Exchange today at 0700 that it has sold its arrival and departure slots at London Gatwick airport, thus bringing to an end Flybe’s 22 year record of providing high-frequency air services from the UK regions to the airport. Flybe will continue to fly all its routes until the end of March 2014. The slots have been sold to EasyJet for a cash sum of £20 million.

The decision is as a result of the pricing regime applied by the airport’s owners to the operators of smaller, regional aircraft which, in Flybe’s case, has resulted in a 102% rise over the last five years. In a well-publicised, lengthy and expensive complaint, the airline used the Airports Act 1986 to argue to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in 2010 that Gatwick was acting in an anti-competitive and discriminatory manner. Despite support from other airlines, communities and governments around the British Isles, the fact that Flybe operates more UK domestic flights than any other airline and has won the airport’s Gold Award for punctuality in every quarter since its introduction in 2009, the CAA ruled in September 2012 that Gatwick was within its rights to raise their landing fees for smaller aircraft, thus paving the way for today’s regrettable announcement.

Flybe will continue to operate as normal all its seven domestic Gatwick routes – from Belfast City, Guernsey, Inverness, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Newcastle and Newquay – until Saturday March 29, 2014, with no changes to pricing, frequency or timings. It also confirmed that there will be no impact upon any other route currently operated from those seven airports and that the funds generated by the sale of the slots will be re-invested in the remaining 159 Flybe routes.

Separate to this announcement, Flybe today updated the London Stock Exchange on the significant positive progress it has made in its plan to return Flybe UK, its UK based scheduled airline, to profitability. Highlights included surpassing its target savings of £25m, with £30m of annual cost savings being delivered for year 2013/14 onwards, and the deal agreed in principle with BALPA (British Airlines Pilots Association) for a 5% reduction in salary in return for extra time off.

Top Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best. EasyJet’s Airbus A320-214 G-EZTD (msn 3909) holds short of the runway ready for departure from London (Gatwick).

EasyJet (UK):