Exeter-based sky bus operator Flybe is sacking a significant proportion of its IT department, according to an insider.

Our source revealed that ten jobs are to go, with a further 20 under threat. The total department headcount is about 60.

We contacted Flybe's press office, outsourced to PR agency Red Consultancy, to confirm the basic details of the redundancy programme (timing, number of people affected, that sort of top secret intelligence), only to receive this frankly bizarre one line response: "Flybe confirms the move is part of departmental restructuring and has nothing to do with the economic downturn."

Um, OK. We didn't actually get round to asking whether it had anything to do with the economic downturn, but whatever, now we can presume that Flybe is not sacking people because of economic factors outside its control; rather its problems must be of its own creation.

When pressed, Flybe spokeswoman Stacey Pinkus said the company had no information on how many IT staff it was sacking. Perhaps it should look into investing in information technology... Oh. ®

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