Flybe improved its financial performance in the final quarter of the year after cutting capacity.
Passenger revenue rose by 8.5% to $158.8 million as capacity was trimmed by 4.2% to three million seats.
The regional airline increased year-on-year passenger carryings by 8.1% to 2.3 million with the load factor improving by 8.6 percentage points to 75.8% and revenue per seat rising by 13.3% to £52.92.
The airline returned four leased Q400 aircraft in the period to December 31 and will return a further two before the end of March.
Flybe also entered into a commercial agreement with Stobart Air to operate two E195 jets from Southend airport.
“Reducing costs remains a key focus for the business and the need to balance improved reliability with higher maintenance costs has been reviewed,” Flybe said.
“Maintenance costs have increased, but the rate has slowed as the business has achieved greater control over reliability.”
A new digital platform aimed at improving the booking experience is expected to be operating from the summer.
A further 3% cut in capacity is planned by the end of March.
The airline reported 43% of seats sold for the January to March quarter against 41% at the same time last year with a 5% increase in passenger revenue.
Chief executive Christine Ourmieres-Widener said: “We are making strong progress against our sustainable business improvement plan.
“During this quarter, we continued with our planned fleet and capacity reductions and delivered higher load factors, increased passenger numbers and strong unit revenue performance.
“We expect this improvement to continue, but at a slightly slower rate in the final quarter of the year.
“Our investment in maintenance to improve reliability is paying off, demonstrated by the fact that we are again ranked as the UK’s most punctual airline.
“As we continue to reduce our fleet size, but face the impact of higher fuel prices and reduced foreign exchange hedging gains, we are going to be even more focused on improving our cost base.”