Flybe's technical division is allocating more resources to maintenance of the UK regional carrier's own aircraft as it increases its Bombardier Q400 fleet.
Around 60% of the Flybe Aviation Services' work comes from third-party customers. But that share is set to settle at around 50% with the arrival of the additional turboprops, the unit's director Dave Tattersall indicates.
However, third-party MRO is to remain a central business for the Exeter-based provider, which is evaluating expansion of its capabilities to include Bombardier's CSeries airliners, says Tattersall.
Flybe has 44 Q400s, 11 Embraer 175 and six E195 regional jets, and two ATR 72 turboprops, Flightglobal's Ascend Fleets database shows.
Some 24 Q400s are be added to the fleet over a two-year period from January 2015, while the number of E-Jets will be reduced.
The maintenance division is recruiting around 30 additional technical staff members and aiming to boost efficiency to create additional capacity for the larger fleet size.
Flybe Aviation Services currently consumes around 500,000 man-hours a year, and this is set to grow by an estimated 20%, says Tattersall.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
