Flybe announces CEO departure

Flybe has announced that Christine Ourmières-Widener has decided to step down from her role as chief executive officer of Flybe Limited on 15 July.

“On behalf of the entire Flybe board, I want to extend my gratitude to Christine Ourmières-Widener for her commitment and significant contributions to Flybe,” said Jonathan Peachey, director at Flybe. “This includes her tireless efforts to safeguard the future for the customers and communities who rely on Flybe, as well as the company’s employees, its pension fund members and its creditors. We all wish Christine the very best for the future.”

Commenting on her departure, Ourmières-Widener said: “It has been a privilege to lead Flybe over the past two years and to work with such an outstanding and dedicated team of professionals.

“Together, we have been able to secure the jobs of our loyal Flybe employees with the sale to Connect Airways and provide our customers and the UK with the vital transport and travel infrastructure they rely on, while preparing Flybe for a bright future under its new ownership.”

It is said that Ourmières-Widener will aid in a smooth handover for her successor.

Although the reign at the top as CEO of Flybe is described as successful, some customers and employees of Flybe will strongly disagree. If the purpose of the term as CEO was to see Flybe contract before being broken-up and sold then it was highly successful.

If, however, the term was supposed to stabilise Flybe then it has been a colossal failure. That is a very binary view of things and the real truth of the matter is that (very) rapidly-changing customer attitudes, the fall of GBP and Brexit woes led to Flybe being caught in a storm from which no manoeuvring could have been undertaken to mitigate falling yield in the timescales required at the end.

The actions taken have saved and secured at least some of the airline. In the end, it was a fight to save what remained.