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Exeter-based airline Flybe has appointed a former chief officer at Easyjet as its new chief executive.

Saad Hammad will take up the job on 1 August as the current CEO, Jim French, becomes its non-executive chairman.

Mr Hammad was also a non-executive director of Air Berlin plc, the second largest airline in Germany.

In June the airline announced pre-tax loss of £40.7m for the year to 31 March, against a loss of £6.2m the year before.

As chief commercial officer of Easyjet, Mr Hammad was credited as being the architect and driving force behind the airline's commercial transformation.

He said: "Flybe is making excellent progress on its turnaround plan.

"The business is once again 'fit to compete' and, with further opportunities to drive its competitive advantages, I look forward to leading Flybe into a new and exciting era."

As part of the turnaround plan, last month pilots accepted a 5% pay cut to avoid compulsory redundancies.