I'd be shocked if they got rid of the Flybe brand it's just to well known.
As for CWL and DSA surely subsidised flying is a better way to guarentee the jets made money why else are they moving E175s to these bases? The E175 and E190 e2 would be a good replacement and Stobart already have the E jet in their fleet.

Who is to say that they are going to purchase Flybe out right?
What if Stobart and Flybe set up an overall holding company and then Flybe and Stobart Air operate as two separate companies under the holding company.
That way the identities stay but the fleets and back offices can be streamlined and harmonised.

I'd be inclined to wait until Stobart give a formal statement of their intentions to all investors (not a 'we are exploring options' bit of waffle) that meets Takeover Panel requirements before trying to think what they will do afterwards

And for the rest of us, it's still a rumour network... :ok:

The whole world is a rumour network, I'd rather go down the pub and jest with my buddies than waste my life gossiping about Airfix kits!

Airfix kits! Wow. DC3s or ATR72s?

That's not an Airfix kit.

And what's wrong with gossiping about them?

The actual wording from the Stobart Group is...“taking a non-controlling interest in a vehicle to acquire 100% of Flybe”

So, a consortium in which Stobart would have a non-controlling interest, is considering acquiring 100% of Flybe. Therefore the consortium would very much have control.

Who/what would make up the rest of the consortium?

private equity ?

There have been a number of comments on this and the Flybe thread about replacing Q400s with ATRs but, except on very short sectors, you cannot just drop an ATR into a Q400 schedule as the ATR is significantly slower.

I don’t know where to post, SEN, FlyBe or Stobart Air! :ugh:

As much as they’d love to buy Flybe outright they haven’t made an offer because they cannot afford to. They would need to raise cash and suspend or reduce the divided, thus relegating shares into a risk category that would force a few institutional investors to sell.

They’re looking for joint venture partners to bring the cash. Perhaps a Chinese company like HNA Group would love such a business? Or perhaps Easyjet, they’ve been looking longingly at the thinner, shorter routes for years, but their A319 are too big. (A long shot because they wouldn’t need anything Stobart could bring to the table). I guess one thing can be assumed, it won't be AF/KLM, IAG, Lufthansa Group or the unmentionable.

They would be a junior partner in such an arrangement so there’s no need to get carried away with sending MX to CAX and pulling out of LCY. It won’t happen.

An airport, an airline and an aircraft leasing company could all tie together into a wonderful package.

Makes you wonder why nobody else has done it?

And before it becomes established as an urban myth, I's sure H W was joking. Surprised the News and Star hasn't picked it up.

...but as a quoted company they could make an all-share offer.

Thats true LGS although that also has significant impact on existing shareholders. When saying they can't afford to buy FlyBe, I wasn't thinking exclusively about the purchase price, I was thinking about the massive cashflow impact owning an airline would have.

Massive risk exposure?

flight_mode

Not sure why you said Stobart couldn't afford Flybe, they have plenty of money in the bank especially after the recent sale of property owned by them and the £100+m They received from the partial sale of the Eddie Stobart business.

HAN will certai my not be investing if anything they are selling assets

I can see debt for equity swap coming onto the table. Flybe got expensive US$ held debt. Off load it to equity player(s) then use the SPV to reissue the debt in £, the SPV underwrites the risk, legally separate entity to STOB and others who will have controlling rights.

Interesting times. If the consortium craft a business restructuring plan that will yield returns then attracting insituational and PE will happen. Markets got excess capital availability right now.