UK regional airline Flybe has announced that it has returned to profit for the full year, despite being in the very early stages of a turnaround that is anticipated to take two years to complete.

The group, which has ambitions to become “Europe's best local airline” saw record numbers of passengers in its UK business and profit improvements across all areas of the business. This resulted in £8.1 million profit compared to a loss of £41.1 million last year.

Saad Hammad, the chief executive officer who was brought in last year in order to stem a string of profit warnings at the airline, said: "2013/14 marks the rebirth of Flybe ... The return to profitability is a great step forwards."