FLYBE'S share price surged almost 9% after it announced it had appointed a former easyJet executive to run the airline.

Saad Hammad, currently at private equity firm Gores Group, will take over from long serving Jim French as chief executive at the start of August.

Mr French, who has been 12 years in the top job, will stay on as non-executive chairman.

Between October 2005 and April 2009 Mr Hammad was chief commercial officer at easyJet and has also been a non-executive director at Air Berlin in Germany.

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."

Last month, the airline announced that it had ramped up a cost-cutting drive as bottom-line losses soared to £40.7 million from £6.2m a year earlier. Passenger numbers dipped by 1.1% to 7.3 million as capacity was cut by 2.7%.

It is cutting back on costs after slashing more than 20% of its workforce and reducing pilot pay by up to 5%.

The airline insisted its recovery efforts were helping it take "significant steps in the right direction". It has recently also quit Gatwick Airport by selling its runway slots to easyJet amid plans to concentrate on core bases such as Southampton, Manchester, Birmingham and the Channel Islands.

The slot had sale placed doubt over links between Inverness and London but easyJet has said it will maintain those flights when it takes over.

Shares ended the day up 4p, or 8.6%, to 50.5p.