Flybe Group

Flybe Group PLC (styled as flybe, pronounced /'fla??bi:/) is a low-cost regional airline group based in Exeter, Devon, England.

It operates over 180 routes to 65 European airports and is Europe's largest regional airline, carrying over 6.7 million passengers during 2010.

The airline is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: FLYB), and employs around 2,800 people.

Launched in 1979 under the name Jersey European Airways, the airline was subsequently renamed British European, then Flybe. It took over BA Connect in 2007 to create Flybe Group.

The group now includes Flybe Aviation Services (engineering and maintenance), Flybe Training Academy (engineering and flight crew training), Flybe UK (airline operations) and Flybe Europe, the holding company for all European operations, which currently consists of Flybe Nordic.

In the UK, Flybe's largest base is Southampton Airport and it has other large bases at Belfast City Airport, Birmingham Airport, and Manchester Airport, with a total of 14 crew and aircraft bases across the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

The company holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.

(Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flybe)