Flybe has said uncertain customer confidence and poor weather contributed to a slow start to the final quarter of its financial year.
In a trading update covering the last three months of 2016/17 and the first three weeks of 2017, the regional airline said 38% of seats available in the latest period were sold.
This puts recent bookings on a par with last year, when figures were impacted by weak demand after the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris.
Overall capacity in the latest period was up by 13% year-on-year, with revenue per seat down 1%. Total passenger revenue was up by 11%.
Flybe, which operates from all the major Scottish airports and smaller ones in the Highlands and islands through a soon-to-expire franchise deal with Paisley-based Loganair, said increased capacity and tough trading conditions affected load factor – a measure of how well an airline fills its planes – during the third quarter.
The Exeter-based carrier said it still grew total passenger revenue by 13.5% to £146.3million during the three months to December 31 after seating capacity grew by 12.7%, but load factor fell to 67.2% – from 68.9% previously – and revenue per seat dropped by 0.2%.
Christine Ourmieres-Widener, who took over as chief executive earlier this month, said: “I have only just started work as CEO at Flybe.
“However, everything I have seen so far confirms my excitement at the opportunity we have to become the best regional airline in Europe.
“There is much to be done but we have the firm foundations needed to develop the business.”
She added: “My first priority is to look to rebuild passenger unit revenue and to challenge all our costs.
“This will be assisted by Flybe becoming an even more customer-focused business as we achieve greater control over our fleet size.”
Ms Ourmieres-Widener’s predecessor, Saad Hammad, left his post “by mutual agreement” in October.
Since then, Flybe has unveiled plans to start flights into London Heathrow from both Aberdeen and Edinburgh – taking on bigger rival British Airways on the route.
Flybe’s long-standing franchise deal with Loganair is due to end later this year, with Loganair taking over the routes as an independent operator from September.