It in good to see the business plan paying dividends at FlyBe and a brighter future for all involved. However the
rumours about Airbuses and ATRs
have been doing the rounds for at least half a decade. ATR - maybe at some stage in the future, A320 series aircraft is not going to happen at FlyBe however. For those who doubt it just look back to last year's presentation in the investor's section of the company website. Bigger jets do not fit with the CEO's (thus far successful) strategy of operating a core network of <90min flights between city pairs that are either not served or are under served by the LCCs/legacy carriers.
Occasionally there is "Ah but we will fill a 319 on a sun route out of BHX/SOU/BOH/EXT" but this brings is back to one of Mr.Hammad's Cs - Cost. Where is the cost advantage for BE in operating a small fleet of narrowbody Airbus vs. Monarch/Jet2/EZY? Without cost advantage there is no ability to offer a lower fare and increase market share. Small market share means inability to negotiate for the lower airport charges than the competitors. It is already a highly contested market segment with overcapacity for the foreseeable future.
The new management team are going to be intently focused on cost, return on investment, profit and share price. Pushing up airframe size will affect the costbase - older airframes require more maintenance (new airframes are not affordable and in any case the backlogs for Airbus narrowbodies are very long). Pushing up airframe size means direct competition with RYR/Jet2/MON/EZY - FlyBe does not have the financial resource to engage in any sort of competition that would mean running a route at a loss on a newly acquired narrowbody. A key determining factor for the management team when it comes to investment will be return. They need to spend their money wisely and they need to see a meaningful return on that investment from the get go - the company's balance sheet demands it. Finally share price - investors would not be keen to see management move away from a turnaround strategy which is bearing fruit ie. refocused network capacity on routes with no/little competition from bigger airlines.
FlyBe has undoubtedly had its ups and downs over the last five years but throughout it all the job on the day has remained interesting and rewarding with colleagues that make it a great place to work. In terms of career choices - it has been difficult for people here who have wanted to move on to bigger aircraft/companies to get a look in. Unfortunately TP and regional jet time doesn't open as many doors as it used to. Having said that, a decent number of people have left or taken redundancy over the last year to go to Flydubai, Jet2, Easyjet, Cityflyer, Monarch, SunExpress; whether that will be sustained remains to be seen. I would suggest that if you are looking to join, unless the employment market changes significantly, expect to stay here for a while. If regional flying floats your boat then you won't do better in the UK.
Obviously all this is just my opinion - I have been known to dine on hats occasionally.