One man who will miss the BAe146 is locally-born Flybe captain Ollie Duquemin, who described it as a stable aircraft to fly and easy to land. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0657004)

THE final BAe146 flight took off from Guernsey yesterday.  The jet has been serving the island for many years, but on the final flight, only 18 of its 112 seats were filled.

Some passengers did not realise that it was the plane’s last trip.

‘We had no idea it was the last flight,’ said passenger Julie Cavey, who was travelling with her daughter, Danielle.  Despite the bad weather, they were not perturbed.

‘It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit bumpy,’ said Mrs Cavey. ‘Its nice to have a bit of excitement.’

Many of the passengers on the positioning flight were Flybe staff returning to the UK, so the fare-paying ones got to enjoy a near one-to-one service from the three cabin crew.

The plane was captained by Chris Unitt, who started flying it in 1995. He had 50 keyrings made for people involved with the final flight to commemorate the trip.