Flybe's first flight from Birmingham as relaunched company takes to the skies

Wednesday marked the beginning of up to four daily flights between Birmingham and Belfast City Centre with additional routes due to start in the coming weeks and months.

In November it was announced that Birmingham Airport would be home to the airline’s headquarters and its first crew base with plans to create up to 200 new jobs in the region over the next three years.

The official launch of the new airline was celebrated at Birmingham Airport with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by Flybe’s chief executive Dave Pflieger and Birmingham Airport chief executive Nick Barton.

Mr Pflieger said: “Today is a big day for everyone at Flybe. After a year of incredibly hard work, we are thrilled to have our fast, quiet and fuel/CO2 efficient Dash 8-400 (Q400) aircraft back in the sky connecting customers to two of the UK’s premier regional cities.

“Over the coming weeks and months our flight schedule will further ramp up as we take delivery of additional aircraft and serve other new destinations from Birmingham including Amsterdam, Avignon, Brest, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.”

Mr Barton added: “I am thrilled to see Flybe back again. With Covid travel restrictions lifted and many thousands of Britons taking to the skies once more, I am confident we’ll see strong demand for Flybe’s core UK, Dutch and French routes.”

Established in April last year Flybe is one of the UK’s newest airlines and plans a fleet of 32 aircraft.

The previous Flybe, which had its headquarters at Exeter Airport, went into administration in March 2020 ceasing all operations. Flybe was at one time the largest independent regional airline in Europe and provided more than half of UK domestic flights outside London. One of its hubs was at Birmingham.

Flybe started as Jersey European Airways in 1979 and was later renamed British European in 2000 and received the Flybe name in 2002.