FlyMe to begin daily London service

Swedish low cost airline FlyMe is to introduce a new service from Stockholm's Arlanda to London Gatwick in the autumn.

• SAS plane loses part of wing in Newark collision (2 May 13)
• Swedes' Germany trips cancelled due to strike (21 Apr 13)
• SAS now cheapest on several European routes (18 Apr 13)

The target market is business travellers, with one weekday early morning flight to London and one evening flight back to Stockholm. The service is due to start on October 3rd, with booking available from May 30th.

"Partly through flying to Gatwick and partly through having an ideal timetable we're counting on offering an alternative to those customers who have so far been forced to pay for overpriced flights to London Heathrow," said FlyMe's chief executive Anders Holst.

The company has focused on the domestic market and connections with Finland since it began in March 2004. Traffic figures for April out on Monday showed a 105% increase in passenger numbers on the same time last year. During the same period the market for domestic air travel increased by 8% according to figures from Luftfartsverket, the Swedish Airports and Air Navigation Group.

In April FlyMe carried 50,778 passengers.

"This strong increase is in line with our plans and expectations," said Anders Holst. But he noted that recent efforts by SAS were turning up the heat in the Swedish market.

"Throughout April the competition has increased with a dominant Scandinavian airline running a campaign where a large number of cheap tickets were released, In the light of that, FlyMe's traffic figures for April are a strong response."