Flybe's EMB195 order looks like good news for LPL

Taken from icliverpool :-

BUDGET airline Flybe today revealed plans to buy up to 26 new jets worth £523m, boosting its Liverpool John Lennon airport operations.

The 118-seat Brazilian-built Embraer 195 aircraft deal will expand Flybe’s fleet from 39 to 64 by 2009.

The deal will give it the young-est fleet anywhere in the world, said marketing director Mike Rutter.

Exeter-based Flybe, Europe’s third biggest no-frills operator, links Liverpool with domestic destinations such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, which will generate about 500,000 passengers through Liverpool.

Mr Rutter said the new Embraer fleet will allow the airline to operate international routes from Liverpool, requiring up to five planes to be based here.

“The domestic routes will be served by the turbo props and the jets will link Liverpool to France, Portugal, Spain and the Mediterranean.

“We will announce the new routes early in 2006 and they will start in August or September, when the first planes are delivered.

“That will allow us to double passengers through Liverpool to one million, which will create 1,000 local jobs.”

He added: “This not only shows the health of low cost aviation, but the regional end of low-cost aviation.”

Flybe chairman and managing director Jim French said: “Flybe has become a major player in European aviation and this deal will pave the way for the company’s continued growth and financial success.”

The Embraer 195 first flew in November 2004 and is the largest aircraft in the company’s 170/ 195 family.

It is a narrow-bodied large aircraft, ideally suited to routes of up to 2,000 nautical miles and the deal comes hot on the heels of Flybe’s 2004 announcement of the £552m purchase of up to 61 Embraer

Excellent news for my “local” airport. Flybe i’m sure will offer us a different kind of destination than was Easy and Ryanair do at the moment.
5 aircraft to be based there is very good news tho!

LPL is certainly growing, although i won’t count my chickens just yet. 2006 looks to be a good year for flybe 🙂