The airline has come to an agreement with Chorus, subject to Connect Airways – the consortium comprising Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital which bailed out Flybe in January – gaining regulatory approval for its proposed acquisition of Flybe.

The five aircraft are all said to be “mid-life”.

It comes after Flybe last month confirmed it would close its Cardiff and Doncaster bases later this year and curtail its operations at Exeter and Norwich.

Flybe has also pledged to reduce its fleet, although it previously stated it would look to do so by returning of all 17 of its Embraer aircraft and cancelling an order for a further four rather than by trimming its Bombardier fleet.

Earlier this month, the airline puts its winter 2019/20 schedule on sale, featuring 2,521 flights a week across 97 UK and mainland European routes – amounting to four million seats.

Chorus president Steve Ridolfi said he was “very pleased” to expand the firm’s existing relationship with Flybe.