Flybe is a former British regional airline that operated primarily in the United Kingdom and Europe. The company was owned by the Connect Airways consortium, consisting of Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group, and Cyrus Capital. Flybe provided domestic and international flights, connecting smaller regional airports to larger hubs. However, in March 2020, the airline entered administration and ceased operations due to financial difficulties.
Flybe was a regional airline based in the United Kingdom that operated from 1979 to 2020. It served as one of the largest independent regional carriers in Europe, offering flights to domestic and international destinations. Flybe was known for its extensive route network, focusing on connecting smaller cities and communities. The airline played a vital role in enhancing regional connectivity, allowing passengers to access various destinations conveniently. However, due to financial challenges and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Flybe suspended its operations and entered administration in 2020. The airline’s closure marked the end of an era for regional air travel in the UK.
What is Flybe?
Flybe was a regional airline based in the United Kingdom. It operated domestic and international flights primarily serving smaller airports. Flybe was known for its extensive network, connecting various cities and regions across the UK and Europe. Unfortunately, Flybe ceased operations in March 2020 due to financial difficulties.
The air carrier, which since the beginning of the 2000s was known as Flybe, was established in 1979 as Jersey European Airways. The initial logo of the company featured a stylized abbreviation, formed by thick lines and squares in red and blue with white separation lines, and a delicate uppercase “Jersey European” lettering in sans-serif, set under the emblem and executed in blue.
The redesign of 1983 switched the color palette of the Jersey European to black and orange, and extended the tagline of the logo to “Jersey European Airways”. Now we the inscription was set in black, and the cleaned-up and refined contours of the graphical part created a strong and modern composition.
In 1992 the logo was completely redesigned, with the new concept featuring a triangular emblem, formed by five diagonal elements in blue, yellow, orange, and red, and a shadowed blue lettering, executed in an extended serif typeface, placed in two levels on the right from the graphical part.
In 2000 the air carrier was renamed British European and introduced its new logo. The triangular emblem from the previous version was slightly modified and got placed in the upper right corner of the composition, pointing up-right. As for the lettering, now it was set in the left part of the logo, executed in a bold and elegant serif font.
The FlyBe name came out in 2002, with the modernized visual identity of the air carrier. It was a bold lowercase lettering in white and blue, placed on a sky-patterned rectangle and underlined by a small blue “British European” tagline with a thick rounded line in red, orange, and yellow, resembling the colorful triangle from the previous badges of the company.
The redesign of 2004 has refined the color palette of the FlyBe logo, writing the wordmark in two shades of blue and placing it on a transparent background with no patterns. As for the bottom part of the logo, it was replaced by a more minimalistic composition, formed by six squares with rounded angles and slightly arched sides, set in orange, red, and purple. The last square in the line was set laced exactly under the square dot after the logotype.
In 2014 the air carrier introduced another version of its logo, redrawing it in solid purple, with no additional colors or elements. Both the logotype, the dot, and the squares at the bottom were set in one shade, which looked very stylish and chic.