As an ex-Flybe employee, perhaps I can add some clarity to this thread.
On the 5th March, all 2000+ employees at Flybe were made redundant with no notice and no redundancy pay.
Shortly after, the government offered compensation to employees who were furloughed by companies that couldn’t continue to trade following the Covid 19 outbreak. Because Flybe employees were redundant and not furloughed they were not entitled to compensation. Hence the idea came about for the government to buy Flybe in order for the staff to be eligible for this compensation.NOT for the purpose of reinstating the company as an operational airline.
Since then the government has now offered compensation for the employees of insolvent companies too, however the Administrators for Flybe have refused to invoke this right on a cost basis. This demand has been made by the IPA/BALPA and thus far has been rejected by Ernst Young. The request is now being made directly to the treasury.
I hope this helps.🧟♂️