A Gib point of view
From Vox-Online
In a move that may well eventually lead to fewer flights between Gatwick and Gibraltar, the controversial low-cost airline easyJet yesterday acquired GB Airways and its fleet of 15 aircraft from the Gaggero family's Bland Group for £103.5 million. The future of GB Airways employees is uncertain, as easyJet has already indicated that from March next year it intends to cut operating costs.
The deal will give the budget airline which is headquartered at Luton, an extra seven per cent of the flight slots at Gatwick, boosting its current 17 per cent share to 24 per cent. It will also acquire the historic "Beehive" headquarters of GB Airways - the original, 1930s art deco control tower and terminal at Gatwick.
In most recent takeovers in the industry the availability of slots - the number of daily flights in and out of major airports allotted to each airline - has been significant in determining both the success of the deal and the price. And though easyJet has switched its thrust from providing for low-cost holidaymakers on no-frills flights to an attempt to attract more business fliers who tend to buy more expensive ‘late bookings', this aspect of the Gibraltar pattern is unlikely to prove particularly attractive.
There will be nothing, other than a moral obligation, to prevent easyJet using its newly acquired slots at Gatwick and at other destinations in Europe, North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean to fly to and from different destinations. And the airline, founded 12 years ago by the ambitious Greek entrepreneur Stelios Ioanniou, has shown scant regard for sentiment. If easyJet can cut a flight to one destination and replace it with a more lucrative one elsewhere it will do so.
Following yesterday's cash purchase, GB will cease to operate as a franchisee of British Airways, which had first option to acquire the Bland-owned carrier. Clearly British Airways has no need to be tempted by slots - and the Heathrow slots it has used to feed the Gibraltar are not part of the deal - nor will the relatively low profits of GB Airways (£2.6 million, pre-tax from £250 million of sales) attract the bigger operator.
A further argument that the budget carrier is likely to use should it decide to cut the number of its flights to the Rock are the high landing charges at Gibraltar. Though these have been negotiated at lower levels than those set by the MoD in recent years, they remain higher than elsewhere in the region. And it is these high landing charges that in the past have deterred easyJet, RyanAir and Budget from flying to the Rock.
Interesting about the LGW slots & the 'Beehive'.