Flybe’s shares fell 15% to 64p in early trading today after the airline issued a profit warning.
It blamed the ‘distortions’ of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, plus a drop in business traffic, for the revised forecast.
Average load factors from the UK are now 62.4%, down 0.7 percentage points.
Passenger numbers from the UK fell by 3% to 1.9 million between April and June.
"2012/13 is proving to be another very challenging year in the European regional aviation sector with continued weak consumer markets and stubbornly high oil prices," said chairman and chief executive Jim French.
"After four years of consecutive decline, the UK domestic air market had shown signs of stabilising this year although June slipped back into 3% year-on-year decline.
"While the UK to European leisure routes performed well in the first quarter, the UK to European business market has shown signs of weakness in recent months, leading to today’s revised trading outlook."
