British airline, Flybe has announced it is pulling out of Galway. Flybe, which is the biggest independent regional airline in Europe had been operating flights to Belfast, Birmingham and Southampton during peak season but has now ceased its business from Galway.

This bad news for Galway means that Aer Arann is the only airline now operating out of Galway. Confirming Flybe's withdrawal on Monday, Galway Airport CEO, Joe Walsh said there would be no summer schedules on any of Flybe's routes from Galway.

Speaking after the announcement, Mr Walsh was confident this was not the end of the road for Flybe in Galway. "We will continue to work closely with Flybe and will look to have some, if not all, the routes back in place for next summer."

Mr Walsh was keen to play down the impact the withdrawal could have on Galway Airport. "This is symptomatic of the aviation sector at the moment. Flybe had pulled their scheduled routes from Galway for summer 2008 because of factors outside of our control."

He added: "This is a new era for Aer Arann, with the focus on new routes like Amsterdam and Bordeaux. In particular we see Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) as being a huge opportunity."

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