Green campaigners seek Flybe probe

31 March 2008 12:00am

Environmental campaigners called for a Government investigation into an airline which advertised for actors to fly backwards and forwards between Norwich and Dublin in order to boost passenger numbers.

The Green Party said Flybe was an "environmental vandal" and air industry regulators should question whether the company was fit to operate.

Friends of the Earth said ministers should investigate to establish whether Flybe's "absurd" tactics were a one-off or widespread within the industry.

Norwich International Airport bosses also said they were considering penalising Flybe because of the methods the airline had employed when faced with losing £280,000 because it had not met a passenger target imposed as part of a commercial deal.

As well as advertising for "extras" on a website, Flybe also laid on extra last-minute flights, offered the public free trips and placed its own staff on stand-by to fly.

Passengers at Norwich were seen on Monday re-boarding outward flights after flying in from Dublin.

One described herself as a "model" and said she had been paid to fly to Dublin and back.

And Norwich Airport officials said Flybe workers had been flown from the company's base in Exeter, Devon, to Norwich to board a Dublin flight.

An airport spokesman said a Flybe flight from Exeter to Bradford, West Yorkshire, had diverted to Norwich to drop Flybe staff off.

© The Press Association