The company said passenger numbers increased by 10.2% to 4.5 million passengers.

Today Flybe (LON:FLYB), the UK’s low cost regional airline based in Exeter announced its half yearly trading statement to investors which indicated a positive turnaround for the airline which in the last year has faced numerous legacy issues and now appears to be returning strongly back to profitability.

In the businesses half year update the company noted a 10.3% increase in group revenue to £339.6m from 307.8 m in the prior year’s period. The company saw a significant improvement in profit before tax of £22.9 million in comparison to a loss of £3.3 million in H1 2014/15.

The company said Flybe has shown “continued progress in its turnaround with revenue growth in its core business and a return to profitability.”

The positive trading update comes after the airline announced last week that it had resolved its final major legacy issue by redeploying its fleet of surplus E195 jets reducing their previously announced costs from 80 million to 40 million spread over a 4 year period.

Saad Hammad the companies Chief Executive Officer who joined the company in 2013 from Easy Jet as Chief Commerical Officer said:

“Our turnaround is on course with a very encouraging performance in the first half. We have returned to profit by delivering significant revenue growth through capacity investment and improved commercial execution, while reducing unit cost. We are also pleased to have resolved all our key legacy issues with the completion of Project Blackbird. The benefits from this will start to come through next financial year.

Competitive pressures are expected to grow in the second half with industry-wide benefit from lower fuel costs and growth in seat capacity. Against this backdrop, we are remaining disciplined in cost control and our capacity growth plans. Our focus will be on building service frequency on our established routes to maximise our appeal to time-sensitive business travellers.

While there are still a number of challenges ahead, Flybe enters the winter season with solid momentum”.