Flybe scraps Aberdeen flights plan

28 February 2006 07:00

A proposed low-cost air service between Norwich and Aberdeen has been scrapped before even getting off the ground.

In June, budget airline Flybe unveiled plans for an array of cut-price flights, including a £50 service between Norwich and Aberdeen which had been due to be introduced on March 16.

But last night, the company said it would be shifting its Aberdeen service to Edinburgh.

Flybe said it had decided to focus on the Edinburgh flights in light of Eastern Airways - which also runs a number of domestic flights from Norwich - discontinuing its service between the city and the Scottish capital on March 17.

The move means people who had been hoping to take advantage of cheap direct flights between Norfolk and North East Scotland are now likely to have to pay close to £300 to fly from Norwich.

But last night, a Flybe spokesman said the move was necessary to maintain links with the Scottish capital.

The spokesman said: "Following Eastern Airways' recent withdrawal from the Norwich to Edinburgh route, Flybe, in the interests of Norfolk travellers, has doubled its services to twice daily to maintain the strong links with this key route to the Scottish capital.

"The decision to shift capacity from Aberdeen to Edinburgh was made to ensure Norfolk passengers were not cut off from Edinburgh. With strong links already in place to Aberdeen from Norwich, Flybe have made this move to ensure capacity is sustained."

He added that the company would be in touch with people who had already booked tickets.

Among those left disappointed by Flybe's decision to scrap the planned service was BP operations supervisor Chris Caton, originally from Yarmouth, who now works from the oil giant's Aberdeen base.

"Some of my relatives were booked to come from Norwich on the first flight on the 17th of March," he said, adding that they had not yet been contacted by Flybe to say the flights wouldn't be going ahead.

He added that non-budget flights were so expensive there was little point in flying directly between Norwich and Aberdeen.

"Its cheaper to fly to Luton with Easyjet, rent a car for four days and pay for a hotel for me and the wife, than the cost of two return tickets to Norwich," he said.

This is not the first time Flybe has scrapped routes from Norwich - in October, the service to Belfast was abandoned due to poor ticket sales - but last night the company said it still planned to introduce a service to Aberdeen at some point in the future.

Email A Friend