‘Greedy’ Norwich forces ‘ungreen’ Flybe into spoof flights to save £280,000

Tuesday 1st April 2008, 1:15PM BST.

FLYBE has been criticised by Norwich Airport for damaging the environment to avoid paying a commercial penalty.

The airline yesterday put on four extra return flights from Norwich to Dublin to make sure it reached a passenger target agreement. Flybe stood to be charged £280,000 by the airport if it failed to carry 15,000 passengers on the Dublin service during the 2007-8 financial year.

With yesterday’s deadline approaching, Flybe was 172 passengers short and offered a one-off payment of £50,000. Norwich Airport refused that so Flybe put on the extra flights to ensure it met its target. Richard Jenner, managing director at Norwich Airport, said the move did not seem to be in the spirit of the agreement.