Chief executive Christine Ourmieres-Widener said the regional airline is “well placed” with better control over its capacity than previously.
Her comments come despite results today showing it made a reported loss after tax of £26.7 million, a reversal of the £6.8 million profit recorded in 2015/16.
Some of the costs were put down to IT write downs of £4.8 million made during the period with further, greater IT costs of about £6 million predicted this year.
The loss also came despite a 13.4% increase in group revenue to £707.4 million with a stable passenger yield at £70.20.
Load factor dropped by 3 percentage points to 69.6% during the period as a result of the 12.3% increase in capacity.
A 2% increase in cost per seat to £53.74 was also offset by a 5.2% reduction in constant currency.
Flybe also reported total cash of £124.3 million but has accrued a net debt of £64 million following the purchase of 10 Q400 aircraft, which had previously been on operating leases.
The purchase of the aircraft comes as the airline prepares to return another six end-of-lease Q400s in 2017/18 as part of its efforts to reduce the fleet size from a peak of 85, which was hit in May this year.
Ourmieres-Widener said this would allow the airline to focus more on profitable routes and customer needs.
She added the improvements are part of a six-point Sustainable Business Improvement Plan, which also focuses on operational excellence, organisational excellence, technology and costs.
The airline is also launching a three-year project to digitalise Flybe this year which should help drive both passenger numbers and revenues.
These factors, plus the fact Easter was in April this year, have given the airline its confident outlook for the immediate future with load factors increasing over the year as capacity ultimately decreases.
Ourmieres-Widener said: "I am truly passionate about the airline industry and I see tremendous opportunities for Flybe to connect and engage with communities and to establish a reputation for excellence in serving our customers.
“We will be successful in delivering by continually focusing on our costs, increasing our knowledge about who our customers are and what makes them tick, achieving industry-leading operational excellence and implementing a great digital platform.”
