The Exeter-based carrier’s loss for the financial year, ending on March 31, was an improvement on a pre-tax loss of £48.5 million during the previous year.

Flybe also increased revenue by 6.4% from £707.4 million in 2017 to £752.6 million this year as passenger numbers rose by 7.7% to 9.5 million, despite ongoing moves to cut the size of its fleet and reduce seat capacity.

Christine Ourmieres-Widener, Flybe’s chief executive, said: “With our fleet size under control, we are already delivering improvements to passenger yield, load factors and revenue.

“Profitability has however been impacted by higher maintenance costs, IT investment and the poor weather in the final quarter.”

Flybe is focusing on using smaller aircraft on its regional network, with the aim of eventually having a fleet of 70 aircraft. The airline is removing nine larger Embraer E195 jets from its fleet.

“We now have a new senior management team in place, with greater aviation experience, and we are all focused on delivering the business plan through continued improvements to revenue, a renewed focus on cost reduction and therefore achieving profitability,” said Ourmieres-Widener.

Ourmieres-Widener highlighted the “success” of its Heathrow routes and its growing number of codeshare agreement.

“Flybe has a unique position in UK connectivity and in its relationship with nine million UK passengers,” she added.

The airline said that sales in the early weeks of its new financial year have “continued to be encouraging” with a 10.9% increase in revenue per seat as capacity has been cut by 8.6% year-on-year due to the fleet reduction.