I agree, the sale must surely be good news and I hope the new investors have some ideas and energy, and are willing to back this up with funds. Do the new investors own/ have shares in any other airports?!
note on Thompson and CVT. Thompson bought it because they thought it could be run really cheaply. They found out that owning it does not mean being able to run at the price the airline want. Thats why they sold it.
Another reason they bought it is that the owners at the time, Air Atlantique, were making such an absolute hash of getting the airport ready for TOM. It came to the point that TOM had little choice but to buy it, so they could gain control and ensure the airport was ready for when the 737s and pax started arriving.
Not sure if they ever saw themselves as airport operators, or whether it was ever part of the plan. Just that a) the oppurtunity arose, and b)they had little choice if they wanted CVT ready...
I don't see any reason why the two airports can't co-exist. Thomsonfly, all due respect, is not the market BHX should be chasing. They have baby and monarch which pretty much cover that. BHX needs some decent scheduled medium to long haul routes.