Regional air operator Flybe announced plans yesterday to cut staff numbers by almost a fifth and review flights serving regional hubs and far-flung communities.

Five-hundred of its 2,700 workers will go under cost-cutting plans forced through by new chief executive Saad Hammad.

The plans will see routes and planes axed and the deployment of crew "improved."

Flybe currently flies to remote locations around Britain such as the Orkney Isles, as well as to and from regional hubs.

In many cases it is the only air company offering scheduled flights linking regional towns and cities and outlying communities.

Mr Hammad claimed the cuts, which follow 650 job losses since January, would see Flybe "shrink to grow."

The firm's estimates they will shave costs by £26 million a year.

But the announcement coincided with results that suggested the carrier may already have turned the corner.

After several years of losses it revealed a six-month surplus of £13.8m and a 5.6 per cent rise in passenger numbers.

Pilots' union Balpa said its members were shocked by the news, adding that Flybe routes were "vital to connecting the country and driving growth and prosperity outside London."

Airlines union Unite national officer Oliver Richardson said: "Cabin crew have already been through recent major reorganisations at Flybe and they will be angry that once again they are on the front line of more cuts.

"Over the coming weeks the union will scrutinise every inch of the company's business plans in order to protect as many jobs as possible and to avoid compulsory redundancies."