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A former Flybe Dash-8 took off from Maastricht this morning, destination unknown but appears to be either the UK or Ireland. |
According to "Skyliner" it's on route to the USA? for Conair, for tanker conversion.
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It was planned to fly MST-RKV (and on to the USA/Canada) on 16/FEB but delayed until today. RKV is of course a fuel stop.
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I wonder why RKV, having done the ferry route a many times in 73 Classic's, we always used KEF, I know its more suited to a jet, nice long runways, but still, oh well.
I take it they are stopping the night at Goose (YYR), in the intresting North or North Two. |
Air Iceland DHC-8 engineering base?
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ford cortina
Generally, my experience has been that turboprop and even commuter jet crews generally use RKV. Very handy for downtown Rekjavik if night stopping. |
Fair enough, interesting.to see the difference in types.
I can see the advantage being closer to the city. Had a few good night's in Iceland. |
Looking at FR24s play back look like KKEV went to KEF not RKV
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Wycombe
I didn't remember that. It does appear to have gone over the pond. |
KEF offers more flexibility in terms of opening times as they are H24, the FBO is more responsive than at RKV too.
RKV opening times are 0700-2300. JETA1 is cheaper in KEF too. |
Said aircraft has departed Iceland heading WNW this morning, but FR24 trace is lost between there and Greenland. The conversions are apparently to happen in Abbotsford, so it has a few stops to go yet.
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I see lucien farrell has resigned from the three thyme co's as a director from Companies Hse. Op co, parent co and invest co
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I have seen this doesnt sound to good i wounder if its do to do with
CAA plans to revoke all remaining of flybe's remaining certificates, including its Operating Licence (OL) and all associated scheduled and charter route authorities. The hearing has been tentatively scheduled for February 26, 2021. Notice that Lucien Farrell resigned on the February 26, 2021. though did apply for an new AOC in december and got this in February |
A surprising development given too that LF is/was the majority shareholder.
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though did apply for an new AOC in december and got this in February |
CAA plans to revoke all remaining of flybe's remaining certificates, including its Operating Licence (OL) and all associated scheduled and charter route authorities. |
Surely the point is that if the original Flybe’s licences etc are revoked, the Heathrow (and other) slots are lost and any “new” Flybe would have to start from scratch re slots.
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I can't imagine there will be very much difficulty with slots at most airports, aside perhaps of LHR in UK, in the foreseeable future, and nobody knows what the strategy of the the new business will be - they may not wish to serve LHR anyway.
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The strategy/statements at the time appeared full well to revolve around the original slot portfolio/connectivity & if this is now lost including the most valuable at LHR & MAN then the strategy(allowing perhaps smoke & mirrors) is possibly lost too.
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But if the proposed new operation does not involve either Heathrow or Manchester why bother with slots at these airports?
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Originally Posted by ATNotts
(Post 11000895)
....nobody knows what the strategy of the the new business will be
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Being reported that the departure of L F is indeed linked to "problems" connected with the old BEE slots & appears to put the proposed enterprise in jeopardy.
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reported by who?
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There's a report on the Daily Telegraph website if anybody is a subscriber?
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Flybe grounded after hedge fund boss quits amid flight slot issues Collapsed airline's return at risk as pandemic complicates ownership of valuable take-off and landing slots
Will delete this if needed Flybe’s return to the skies is hanging in the balance amid the resignation of a “big swinging” hedge fund manager that was plotting the airline’s revival. Lucien Farrell of Cyrus Capital, whose friends include Ben Elliot, the nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall and co-chairman of the Conservative Party, has stepped down as a director of the company Thyme Opco, according to official filings. Thyme Opco acquired Flybe from administrators EY in October to “restore essential regional connectivity in the UK, and contribute to the recovery of a vital part of the country’s economy”. Mr Farrell’s decision to stand down last Monday followed a crunch hearing on the previous Friday, February 26, between regulator Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), EY and law firm Freshfields. The administrators argued that take-off and landing slots worth tens of millions of pounds each should be handed over to Thyme Opco. An application by Thyme Opco for an operating licence was also lodged at the hearing. Industry insiders said that the CAA had adjourned the part of the hearing relating to the transfer of the slots having been unable to come to a final decision. But the operating licence application is expected to be granted in the next two weeks, the sources added. Mr Farrell’s decision to acquire the Flybe brand, intellectual property, stock and equipment sparked speculation within aviation industry circles over his motives for restarting the perennially loss-making airline. “Slots. That is all they are doing. Trying to find a way to reclaim and sell them,” one analyst claimed at the time. Flybe collapsed a year ago with the loss of 2,000 jobs. Cyrus Capital previously owned the carrier alongside Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic and what was called Stobart Group, the owner of Southend Airport. The three investors were unable to convince the Government to plug a £100m hole in Flybe’s finances and were unwilling to invest more of their own capital with the spectre of coronavirus looming. Flybe had up to 12 pairs of take off and landing slots at Heathrow airport. In the past, the sought-after slots have traded for high prices. Air New Zealand sold one slot pair at Heathrow for $27m (£20m) in March 2020, for instance. The ownership of the slots has been complicated by the pandemic. When airlines collapse, the administrators would sell them to another airline. If the administrators were unable to sell them, strict rules dictate that they would be handed back to a central slots coordinator. However, the rules have been suspended during the crisis leaving the ownership of Flybe’s slots in limbo. Mr Farrell’s resignation leaves Thyme Opco and associated companies with just one director, Jon Peachey, the chief executive of Virgin Group’s American operations between 2008 and 2013. Mr Farrell, 46, often targets companies facing bankruptcy. One executive once described him as a “big swinging, high-rolling kind of guy. He has got a sort of free wheelin’ style that some investors value.” |
While I could be wrong the only way i see this still going is that Stobart Air being brought over by Ian Woodely with funding from an UK private equity firm. Joining with Jonathan Peachey with flybe assets and New UK AOC
while using Stobart Air Irish AOC to create new UK regional flying airline. |
It's not all gloom and doom.........
Thyme Opco's Q400 G-CLXC performed an air test and several hours of circuits at Exeter Airport this afternoon. |
Allan, you could be wrong but who knows, I don't think we have seen the last of this.
It will be interesting to see the next administrator report from EY to see if there is any detail on the sale to Thyme Opco. Did it even happen? The only press reports suggest that it was subject to confidential conditions (I can imagine they revolved around the likely-hood of retaining slots). Thyme Opco seem to have leased themselves a very old Dash, but so far, that seems about it. Did they go as far as taking on the operations setup and post holders etc, or were they just working in parallel with EY to see how things panned out? Flybe still exists with the same director/s and EY have just extended the administration period for three years (and 1 year from Connect Airways). Is this to give the market a chance to recover before they flog off the remaining engines and to claim the outstanding debts (Virgin still owe about 9M according to the last report). EY were trying to hold it all together as an airline and apparently still had a few essential staff in place to make it so. What happened to them? Did they go to thyme or are they still employed by EY? Regardless of what LF is up to, are EY still trying to sell it on to another party? LF may have been sticking around to see how the LHR slots battle was going but there were other major peak-time big-airport slots in the portfolio. Desperate times but according to their reports, EY still saw value in the whole bundle. |
Sounds like they want to acquire the slots and then just sell them with the pretence of running the airline which is probably a front for the sale.
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EGTE
G-CLXC is due at BHX on Monday :-) |
Repaint out of it's current Austrian Arrows colours?
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LTNman
I expect IAG will offer them a lump to stop being a nuisance and take the slots. Flybe mk2 won’t fly, in my view. |
Possibly not but times are changing and as the big aviation reset takes place, people may be realising that the slots that BA originally asset striped from regional airlines actually belong to the regions. Other large hub airports around the world don't seem to have a problem with the smaller airlines flying in from the regions. A former CEO of Flybe (Saad) was making inroads into reclaiming LHR slots. They were presumably called remedy slots for a reason so what's to stop them being claimed again from BA in a year or so when things pick up?
Using NQY to London as an example. Flybe were doing a good 250-300 people a day with the flexibility of three rotations. BA tried NQY in the past but gave up. Their once a day new offering is hardly going to fill the gap. |
They don't belong to the regions in an open market, you want them to "belong to the regions" then you need them ring fenced in the regulations.
If you look at "other large hub airports" of a comparable size then look at runway capacity : LHR 2 vs : AMS 6 CDG 4 FRA 4 MAD 4 ZRH 3 This is why LHR slots became so scarce, in a purely open and commercial market, the airport has a slot that can be used for a) flybe Q400 to Newquay (72 seats) b) Emirates A380 to Dubai (489 seats) Given the airport uses footfall and throughput to drive commercial retail profits to ensure a revenue stream beyond landing charges, it's a no brainer. The only way LHR gets prop feed on a reliable basis is via ringfencing certain markets and taking them out of the slot pool or finally building runway 3 ( and probably still doing the ring fencing piece). I understand, and correct me if I am wrong, that flybe's LHR operation was a loss maker. Operating Q400s against A320s at a lesser frequency to ABZ/EDI only meant that they had to lead on price. LHR is not the future of flybe IMHO, if there's a future to be had. I suspect there's not, nor should there be given where they ended up. There's a lot of good people being led up the garden path and getting their hopes up I think. |
Probably best to let the old airline rest in peace!
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The proving flight on G-CLXC didn't quite make it around the operation to Birmingham and back today then?
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It got to Banbury did a 180 back to EXT !
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Looks like the CAA made their decision on the old Flybe’s AOC and route license’s. so new Flybe will have to get a new AOC and operating and route licenses.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....97b625df7.jpeg CAA decision on Flybe’s AOC and operating license |
They were planning on using the new OL anyway. The only reason they wanted to keep the old flybe one was so that there was enough time to obtain the slots back. After that the plan was to transfer everything over to Thyme Opco.
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https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/...nistration.pdf
Interesting read, especially Logan Air tried to have a say... |
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