DLA Piper advises Flybe Ltd on aircraft, start of new operations and other matters

DLA Piper is advising UK airline Flybe on aircraft leases, the start of its new operations, and general corporate work as part of Flybe’s recent launch and start of flying from Birmingham, UK and Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Going forward, the new airline plans to grow its fleet to as many as 32 Dash 8-400 (Q400) aircraft, hire a total of up to 600 new employees, and have 530 flights per week on 23 different routes serving airports in Birmingham, Belfast City, East Midlands, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness, London-Heathrow and Leeds Bradford.

DLA Piper has also been supporting Flybe with finalising commercial agreements, GDPR compliance, employment matters, tax law, intellectual property issues and general corporate advice.

The DLA Piper team was led by London-based Finance, Projects and Restructuring partner, Richard Skipper, who commented: “It’s great to see a ‘new’ Flybe arise from the ashes as the pandemic recedes and the opportunity for our law firm to be a part of that story has been fantastic.”

CEO of Flybe, Dave Pflieger, added “DLA has provided us with outstanding legal assistance during this long journey and their responsiveness has been second to none.”

The DLA Piper Flybe team also includes partners Mark Franklin and Alexandra Kamerling (both Litigation and Regulatory), Nick Hipwell (Employment), Robert Newman (Corporate), legal directors Lynda Finan (Tax) and Suraya Tegally, and senior associate Anna Powers (both Finance, Projects and Restructuring).