Flybe scraps debit card charges in pricing overhaul

AIRLINE Flybe has axed debit card charges and will offer some passengers free baggage - seven years after beating Ryanair to become the first airline in the UK to introduce luggage fees.

Managing director Andrew Strong said the carrier’s move was to “positively differentiate it from some of the negative perceptions of low fare travel”.

He said he wanted “Flybe to be seen as fair and our pricing to be transparent”. This also includes credit charges being levied per booking rather than per passenger.

A three-class ticket system will be introduced, with the middle, “new economy” class including one free checked-in bag. Flybe said such tickets would start at under £50.

The airline operates 39 routes from Scotland, virtually all in the UK and to Ireland and France.

The changes follow Flybe encountering financial turbulence because of a drop in demand for air travel. It is now expected to make a loss of some £8.5 million in the year to March after previous predictions of a £6m profit.