Quick thinking from Flybe has helped it deal with the fall out from the Paris terrorist attacks.
The carrier said it temporarily lowered its seat capacity growth in response to the events last November, which helped mitigate the lower load factors. Passenger numbers and revenue were in line with the fourth quarter in the same period last year.
In the trading statement for the three months to the end of March, the airline also said that it had taken ownership of three Bombardier Q400 aircraft at a cost of $34 million. Flybe said this was in line with its strategy of owning more aircraft outright.
Summer trading was described as being “on track” with a 17% increase in capacity compared with the previous year.
Around 21% of capacity has been sold, 3 percentage points down on the prior year. Flybe said this was down to new routes and additional frequencies.
The airline will release its full-year results on June 9.
Saad Hammad, chief executive, said: "This last year has seen enormous progress at Flybe. We completed the resolution of the key legacy issues while significantly improving our service and customer offering.
"We are carrying more passengers across a growing route network and doing so at a lower unit cost.
"Against the background of the highest level of market capacity growth for six years driven by low fuel prices, we continue to be disciplined in deploying our capacity, focusing investment on routes where airport partners provide cost mitigation and those which adhere strictly to our business model."
Wyn Ellis, analyst at Numis, reiterated his “buy” recommendation and called the update “encouraging”.
He said: “Flybe has confirmed that [2016] results will be in line with market expectations. This, in our view, reflects encouraging progress in the company’s turnaround and firm evidence of improved resilience and management controls in difficult market conditions driven by unwelcome extraneous events.”
However, despite maintaining a “buy” recommendation analysts at Liberum have cut the target price from £1.20 to £1.05.
