Norwich receives winter boost with new Flybe schedule
Norwich Airport is boosting its range of holiday routes with tickets on sale today (Thursday 14th April) for winter sunshine flights to Malaga and Alicante, plus a new ski flight to Chambery in the French Alps all of which will be operated by Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline.
With travel effective from 31st October, Flybe’s new winter timetable will see two scheduled flights a week to both Alicante and Malaga, with a new Saturday service to Chambery commencing mid-December. These are in addition to its recently launched Exeter service through the winter months.
Tickets are on sale now at www.flybe.com with one way fares from £17.49 including taxes and charges.
Norwich saw the return of scheduled sunshine flights to Spain at Easter, following a nine-year absence. The Chambery link will be the first winter ski flight from Norwich since 2010, further boosting the airport’s growing range of holiday destinations.
The new flights are operated by one of Flybe’s E195 118-seater jet aircraft and have been made possible through an innovative partnership between the airline and Regional & City Airports (RCA), the airport management division of Rigby Group PLC, which owns Norwich Airport.
Richard Pace, General Manager at Norwich Airport, said: “The partnership between RCA and Flybe means the new sunshine routes will operate year-round and we are delighted to be adding the popular ski resort of Chambery to our winter schedule.
“With the addition of regular flights to Exeter, Norwich Airport is offering one of its best winter schedules for years.”
Flybe’s Chief Revenue Officer, Vincent Hodder added: “Together with our partners at Norwich, Flybe will continue to look at ways to provide an increasing selection of attractive routes for our regional customers. The diversity of our new winter schedule reinforces this commitment; and we look forward to welcoming many new passengers on board as they head off for winter sun and ski breaks, as well as those who are already enjoying the fast, easy convenience of our recently introduced services to Exeter. As the lowest possible fares sell out quickly, we would advise customers to book as early as possible to avoid disappointment, especially when looking to travel over peak holiday periods.”
For more information about scheduled and holiday flights from Norwich Airport please visit www.norwichairport.co.uk
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Notes to Editors
About Norwich Airport
Norwich International Airport is part of Regional & City Airports, the airport management division of Rigby Group plc having been acquired in June 2014. The airport employs 250 people.
The Airport offers direct scheduled flights to Amsterdam (with connections to over 600 destinations worldwide), Aberdeen, Alicante, Edinburgh, Exeter, Guernsey, Jersey, Malaga and Manchester. Connections through Manchester enable passengers to reach Belfast, Glasgow, Isle of Man, Inverness and many more.
Holiday flights operate to the Balearic and Canary Islands, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Italy.
The scheduled airlines and charter operators currently active from the Airport are:
KLM, Eastern Airways, bmi regional, Flybe and Loganair Thomson, Thomas Cook, Balkan Holidays, Newmarket Holidays and Omega Holidays
The airport is a key hub for the southern North Sea offshore oil and gas industry. Four major offshore helicopter operators are based at the airport. These are Bristow, Bond, CHC and NHV. Last year 100,000 passengers travelled offshore from the Airport.
About Rigby Group plc
Formed in 1975, Rigby Group is the parent company for a portfolio of privately owned and highly successful businesses operating across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Rigby Group has diversified from its origins as a principally technology-led business and evolved – through smart, strategic acquisitions – into a £1.8 billion business with interests in the technology, airports, hotels, real estate, financial and aviation sectors. Rigby Group businesses include Europe’s largest independent technology provider SCC, British International Helicopters, the Eden Hotel Group, international property developers Rigby and Rigby and Regional & City Airports.
With two generations of the Rigby family at the helm, Rigby Group has built a distinguished reputation as both an investor and business operator; renowned for its independent thinking, seamless execution and a peerless approach to acquiring and nurturing businesses to unleash their potential.
About Regional & City Airports (RCA)
Regional & City Airports (RCA) is Rigby Group’s highly-innovative airport management company. RCA owns and operates Norwich Airport, Exeter Airport and Coventry Airport, holds management contracts for Blackpool International Airport, City of Derry Airport and Lee on Solent airfield, and is actively building its portfolio of owned or managed airport assets across the next five years.
Regional airports are vitally important to the economic development of regions, not just in the UK but across the world. To survive and prosper, smaller regional airports need to cooperate and collaborate – enabling them to benefit from the economies of scale and sharing of best practice traditionally enjoyed by larger hub airports. This is the vision behind RCA.
RCA has built a reputation as an efficient, safe and commercially-savvy airport operator, driving improvements to route development, commercial revenues, operating costs and capital investment in order to deliver a consistently sound commercial return. As RCA grows it is increasingly able to leverage significant buying power and shared expertise. Already employing more than 650 people, RCA is on its way to becoming a leading player in the regional airport sector and is taking advantage of the lack of capacity at major hub airports in the UK to demonstrate how regional airports can ease the strain.
