TUI have bought Coventry Airport

[topcat450]

I just heard TUI have bought Coventry Airport, no doubt local NIMBYs will be up in arms over it.

Will it be the start of a decent expansion? Or will things continue to tick over nicely as they are doing now?

Answers on a postcard please...

[AlphaDeltaFlyer]

Reported by The Times and AFX...

"TUI AG will today announce it is buying a controlling stake in West Midlands International Airport, otherwise known as Coventry airport, The Times reported citing sources close to TUI.

The deal, announced to staff last night, is believed to be the first instance of a tour operator taking on ownership and management of an airport, the paper said.

The acquisition comes just weeks before TUI launches Thomsonfly, a low-cost airline with four aircraft flying out of Coventry to eleven holiday destinations in the Mediterranean and the Channel Islands, starting from March 31, it added.

TUI, which entered the UK in 2000 through the 1.8 bln stg acquisition of Thomson Travel Group, is expected to press ahead with plans by the airport's owners, Air Atlantique, to update the site and build a 3 mln stg terminal, the Times said.

The paper said it understands TUI has become increasingly frustrated at the threat to Thomsonfly's plans posed by the breakdown in relations between Air Atlantique and the local authorities. The company is believed to view taking over the airport as the best way of preserving its position.

The Times said that, according to a source close to TUI, the tour operator has no intention of buying any other airports. The source described the cost of buying and redeveloping West Midlands airport as "minimal in the context of the size of the company".

TUI, Europe's largest tourism company, owns Thomson Holidays and Lunn Poly in the UK. "

[Not Long Now]

So presumably not much chance of Thomfly being scrapped by autumn then?
mmmm, congestion at Cowly ahead.

[fireflybob]

West Midlands International Airport, eh - I thought that sort of title belonged to Halfpenny Green, sorry I mean Wolverhampton London International.......

Suppose in a few years they will decide to call it something logical like Coventry!

Joking aside, an interesting development - Good Luck to Thomson with it's low cost operation - a bit more competition won't do the regular LC airlines any harm.

PS If there are any good jobs going let me know.

[Big Tudor]

Agreed FFB that competition will be good all round but the only competition this is likely to bring is of an unhealthy nature. Having the major operator owning the airport would surely raise questions of fairness. Is there a precedent in aviation of an airline operator owning its' main hub (other than through state ownership)? I seem to recall a lot of debate around this subject when EasyJet tried to buy Luton airport, and it wasn't all favourable!

[cortilla]

Just to answer the previous question, yes there is a precedent of the major operator owning the airport. Coventry used to be owned by the major operator, Atlantic. Okay so very few pax compared to what'll happen now, but still the groundwork is there. Amd on the other point, is it really that big a difference operating from BHX or CVT when compared to distance to DTY?

[Zones]

West Midlands Int'l Airport?
Which lies approx 40 miles due south of East Midlands Airport?
Hasn't someone got their Nth/Sth/East/West mixed up a bit?

As someone said before, what's wrong with name Coventry International?

So how about some new names for other airports:

Stansted to be Essex International?
LHR - West London?
LGW - South London?
LCY - East London?
Teeside - South Northeast?
NCL - North Northeast?

What are they on?


As for ATC congestion, I'm sure the BHX controllers won't notice much change for a while unless traffic grows really fast at CVT. They seem to cope without problem at the moment.

[Moondance]

EGBE = Birmingham East, surely?

[Arkroyal]

So what would that make EGBB then?

I thought the airport belonged to Coventry City Council (even though it's in Warwickshire) and that Atlantic Airlines leased it from them:confused:

If TUI are buying in, does that mean that the planning consent problems will be magicced away? Or will the German company threaten a repeat of 1940 for Coventry if they don't get their way?

Seriously, the road access to the present terminal is very narrow and residential. Is this going to improve? Is the new terminal accessible from the A45?

[Meeb]

Seriously, the road access to the present terminal is very narrow and residential. Is this going to improve? Is the new terminal accessible from the A45?

eer, you have not been there in a while have you Ark? Its dual-carriageway (well sort off) and not through any housing! :p

[dancav]

Good look COV & Warks & West Mids!! The more low cost & accessable airports are the better!...

[Chrisrigby]

The development at Cov is good for for everyone in the business. The upturn in the pilot market was triggered by easy and others and this operation will do the same. I can remember when 3 adverts for pilots / year was a busy one. It's unfortunate for local residents, but when you buy a house near an airport, that's the rub. Mind you they might find the value of their properties increases dramatically. Shame that Stelios did not buy it when I suggested it to him, but he thought he had a base in the midlands already - Liverpool. Would that be Midlands North - EGBN? Here we go, back to night flying.

[piginsh1t]

its taken them 59 years but capitalism wins over fascism
oops thats not very european is it

Regional expansion is a good thing and long over due as long as it is done in partnership with the community that it is supposed to be serving.
i.e. people like to sleep at night and local conditions should be allowed to limit business growth not the other way round.

Having just spent a few quid resurfacing the runway I guess TUI want more control plus they might have deeper pockets to grease the wheels of the warwick planners who are sqeaking loudly at the moment.

launch date mar 31

Planning meeting is April the 1st ummh?

The road access is already at its limits dual carriage way or not.

[Arkroyal]

Yes, meeb it was some five years ago I was based there, and accessed through the local houses.

I see from the CVT website that things have changed. Must go take a look.

[cortilla]

Arkroyal, you probably drove in through the back (or main depending how you look at it) entrance to get to the atlantic hangars and so forth. you probably went from the roundabout where the harvester and peugeot dealership are based. I think the terminal is on the other side and thus accesible from the tolbar.

[Flightmapping]

Just saw they are now claiming that Coventry City Council passed a motion in 2003 stating they were against the airport operating passenger flights.

That would be a really good one - an airport can't even get support from its own city council.

Unfortunately for them, it is yet another lie in an increasingly tiresome attempt to get these flights stopped.

The real facts of the matter, as opposed to the claim on the "facts" website, are that all Cov Council ever voted on was a response to the aviation paper (24th Oct 2002), which condemned Rugby (a no brainer), and supported freight at CVT & the continued development of BHX for passengers. There were no proposals for any airline to operate from CVT, so no mention was made in the motion.

[Charles Web]

Agreed Flightmapping, but take a look at who owns BHX.

CCC is a major shareholder, along with the other local councils, owning 48.5% of BHX.

Large guaranteed revenues for CCC one thinks. They need to tread carefully.

;) :bored:

[blandford50]

This is all verrrry interesting!

TUI decides to set up shop at a UK regional airport in the budgie airline business.
Big business is usually quite canny, and I think they've spotted a ready-made site capable of great development in COV.
It seems they're just a tad taken-aback by the vociferousness of local nimby protests- but won't be put-off. So they buy the airfield as well! Just to be sure. Good move- they'll be paying landing charges to themselves!
I'm going to check The Times' website after this to look for confirmation of the story.
I haven't been to COV for months- how are they getting on with terminal buildings (-however temporary), car-park, etc?