Squeeze on consumer spending clips Flybe's wings

The slowdown in consumer spending is starting to bring headwinds to the aviation industry.

That's the conclusion to be made from a trading update by Europe's biggest regional airline, Flybe, which today said September had seen sales dip sufficiently to drag its total, first-half revenues 1% below expectations.

"In line with many other UK consumer-facing businesses, in September we noted a significant slowdown in sales across our UK domestic network," Flybe said.

Still, the six months to October saw passenger revenues rise about 3% higher than last year, excluding the impact of the Icelandic volcano last year.

Flybe said routes from UK regions to European business cities had performed particularly well.

But while it made more money on seats sold, the underlying number of passengers fell 1.7%.

The airline added: "It is too early to determine whether the September slowdown in sales on our UK domestic routes is a short-term reaction to the turbulent, macro-economic environment, or a longer-term market adjustment."

But Flybe admitted that advance passenger ticket sales for this winter have slowed from early September, and are currently below management's expectations.