Flybe shareholders have approved the sale of the troubled airline to a consortium including Stobart Aviation.

According to a statement issued on the London Stock Exchange, 179 shareholders voted in favour, while 105 voted against the deal, which will see the airline sold to Connect Airways – the consortium which includes Stobart Group subsidiary Stobart Aviation, Virgin Atlantic and investment firm DLP Holdings Sarl.

Flybe said it was “pleased” to announce the result, which comes around four months after the airline was put up for sale in the wake of a profit warning blamed on falling demand, a £29 million hit from rising fuel costs and the weak pound.

The acquisition remains subject to the “satisfaction or waiver” of some conditions, including a further sanction at a Flybe court hearing on March 8, said Flybe. If passed, the takeover will become effective on March 11.

The Flybe Board had issued a strong letter to shareholders warning them that they would wind-up the company if they did not vote the deal through.

The ultimatum was in response to the offer of a capital injection and replacement of funding by Cumbrian businessman and major Flybe shareholder, Andrew Tinkler, should the Connect Airways deal fall through.

Despite the rebuff, Mr Tinkler returned just a few weeks later as part of an investor group led by Bateleur Capital LLC and United States-based Mesa Air Group Inc, with support from other “un-named institutional shareholders” for another capital injection and replacement of funding offer in the event of the Connect Airways deal failing.

The shareholder vote – which would have included Mr Tinkler, who owns 10 per cent-worth of shares in Flybe – appears to have ended any potential for alternative investment.

Both Flybe and Mr Tinkler had argued that their proposals were in the best interest of shareholders.

The share purchase agreement between Flybe and Connect Airways was completed on February 22 but needed approval by shareholders, which was given at a Court Meeting and General Meeting on March 4.

Flybe's assets and operations are now owned by Connect Airways, with Flybe keen to stress that flights continue to operate as normal.

The takeover will ultimately see Virgin Atlantic operate a network of regional flights provided by a combination of Flybe and Stobart Air.

Flybe has 78 planes operating from smaller airports including London City, Southampton and Norwich, carrying around eight million passengers to destinations across the UK and Europe.

The shareholder approval was a second piece of positive news for Stobart Group in the space of a day.

The company announced on Monday that commercial flights will finally take off from Carlisle Lake District Airport on July 4 – providing connections with London Southend, Dublin and Belfast airports.

The new date is just over a year later than Stobart Group had targeted for flights to commence.

It had first set June 4, 2018 as the big date but was forced to push in back until September due to problems recruiting qualified air-traffic controllers and issues securing regulatory approval for work carried out in preparation for commercial flights.

The date was then pushed back a third time until the Spring this year due to the same issues, but it now transpires it will be deep in to the summer.

Scheduled services will be provided by the Scottish airline, Loganair.