Originally Posted by
HZ123
Many have commented on the LGW/LCY slots that maybe worth the cost of the sale price even without the airline.
Whatever about LGW, LCY slots are not particularly valuable these days. BA already has the lion's share of service from LCY and if flyBE stopped LCY ops, its slots would become available for other carriers - and there isn't exactly a long queue at the moment, as LCY has always been a niche.
Originally Posted by
HZ123
BA then has access to a top up of Flight/Cabin crew minus the recruitment/basic training etc.
OK, so in your scenario, BA buys flyBE and then tells the flight crew and cabin crew "please relocate to London now and sign this new BA contract"? Do you not perhaps anticipate some trifling issues with changing contract terms
? If as anticipated any future for flyBE involves at least a downsizing, what does BA gain in staff terms from buying the company with all its baggage that they don't gain from biding their time and then offering jobs to ex-flyBE staff?
Originally Posted by
HZ123
It has been mentioned about BA holding a 15% in FlyBe but I was of the opinion that BA surrendered this years ago
Yes, IAG sold the flyBE shareholding in 2014. See for example
this news story from 2014. Let's move on from that old news.
Originally Posted by
HZ123
as that share could have cost monies should BE have gone under?
Originally Posted by
HZ123
Surely the aircrafts can be returned to the lessor?
Lessors are not charities. An airline contracts with a lessor to lease an aircraft for a certain period of time. The lessor takes the risk that the airline may go bankrupt and stop making its lease payments. Otherwise the airline doesn't get a free pass to return the aircraft whenever it wants. Sure, it can try to negotiate an early return with the lessor (n exchange for $$$), but if you're a lessor being offered early return of a pile of 10-year-old Q400s which you were expecting to continue generating cash for you for several years yet, you'll not be particularly accommodating.
I am still waiting for a plausible argument for why someone (anyone) would buy flyBE as is, as opposed to waiting to pick up the pieces, either informally, or by reaching an agreement for "
pre-pack administration", essentially saying "you go into Administration and then we'll buy the following bits of you afterwards". The latter lets a buyer cherry-pick what it wants (and lets it avoid taking on liabilities) and is very different to buying the going concern.