My understanding is that once they sell both businesses what they have left is a mountain of debt to repay with the sale proceeds. Any money then remaining will be distributed to the shareholders.

For some reason the fact that EZY are operating SEN-GNB this winter had passed unnoticed by me.

It looks as though the sale of Esken Renewables to Pioneer Balmoral UK for the sum of £78.5m will be completed next month subject to Shareholder approval etc.. Part of the sale proceeds will be used to repay £55m of borrowings with £3.6m going into Esken's defined benefit pension scheme

The remainder of the sale proceeds will be used to provide Esken with additional short-term working capital to increase stability and support the managed disposal of London Southend Airport.

This is good news for SEN as it will allow more time to find and agree terms with a prospective buyer and ensure that operations can continue unhindered in the interim.

I would be more reassured if there was a company with credible interest in operating airports that had expressed clear and serious interest in buying SEN. At the moment, it seems to be a case of Esken selling off some family silver to ensure they can continue paying the mortgage on the house.

....until they can find a buyer for the house to pay off their debts

Stansted’s announcement won’t help with Southend’s business model of airport of last resort when everywhere else is full. Maybe new owners will have a different strategy without playing the waiting game. Easyjet is showing the way forward by generating demand, despite Stansted.

I don't know which companies have expressed an interest in preliminary discussions with Esken, nor their airport operating credentials, and I doubt that you do either. What I do know is that freeing up at least £4.3m of working capital should ensure that there is no mid-2024 deadline for finding a suitable buyer. Without this money it could have become a fire sale.

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/238...on-focus-sale/

From the official statement:

Net proceeds of the Disposal are expected to total £78.5 million (which includes the Intercompany Loan Reimbursement and is net of transaction costs), which will be used to immediately repay the £55 million of committed funding drawn under the Facilities Agreement and associated costs (based on the Company's latest calculation, the amount to settle will be £70.6 million in total). The balance of the net proceeds will be used: (i) to further contribute approximately £3.6 million to the Group's defined benefit pension scheme; and (ii) to provide additional working capital in the short term;

I may be reading it wrong but the above suggests £4.3m remaining for working capital.

The statement goes on to say:

Following this sale, and subsequent repayment of our debt facility, our focus will now primarily turn to addressing the maturity and terms of the Exchangeable Bond.

You may be correct but I took it to be that to repay the whole funding package will be £70.6m in total and £55m of that will be immediately repaid. No doubt all will become clear once the sale of Esken Renewables is completed but I've edited my previous post to show a possibly lower working capital increase.

Six easyJet destinations are now bookable for S24 from SEN, these being AGP, ALC, AMS, CDG, FAO and PMI. All flights are operated by aircraft from those bases, except AMS which uses a FAO aircraft, and is a total 25 flights weekly in June for example.

Not too bad. I see there is a frequency upgrade to PMI (6 weekly) and it starts earlier in the season, and AGP gains a 3rd weekly before the peak season kicks in. ALC currently 2 weekly but I’ve seen suggestion elsewhere that a bigger programme (not SEN specific) will follow.

An average of three and half flights a day? It's to be hoped that the family silver lasts long enough for the might oak to grow from these acorns.

Very much depends on timings, if all flights arrive / depart in say a 6 hour window then everything is done on a single shift. If you need two crews on handling & customs, lights & heating on in terminal then I doubt anything will be making a profit.

I was intending to make a pilgrimage to the airport tomorrow, as the last time I was in the terminal it was made of wood. I have just checked but there are no scheduled flights I can see on Saturday meaning I assume the terminal will be locked up. This is somewhat annoying, as I have been planning this trip for weeks. Now going to Brighton via Gatwick. I haven’t checked but I suspect Gatwick will be open.

You can see all of the landside through the glass frontage and I know you will take a good pic or two to share with us. No problems parking either if you wish to drive and you can checkout the improvements to the A127 on the way.

I am sure if you let them know you are coming they will arrange a water arch for you.

LTNman - perhaps rather than just going to inspect the landside of SEN, you might like to buy a ticket to fly somewhere and get to visit airside and see the whole SEN experience. At the very least, you will be able to comment on SEN with real first hand, recent and nontrivial experience. Maybe fly SEN-AMS-LTN (or visit CDG instead of AMS), staying a night in Amsterdam/Paris... and you can see two very different airports. Easyjet use terminal 2B/2D in CDG which reopened recently after a very major refurbishment - it's definitely worth a look and has improved tremendously. AMS is an enormous single terminal - you can spend hours (and I have in the past) exploring all over landside and airside. Bonus points if you get a selfie of yourself with the Fokker on the roof. Whether you visit AMS or CDG, it'll give you an interesting and current perspective on another airport.

Easyjet offers tickets on these routes for very reasonable prices outside peak season if you are prepared to go with just a small rucksack that will suffice for 1 or 2 nights away. SEN-AMS on 11 January is available for £16 oneway. Both cities are very enjoyable to visit, even in winter. If money's tight at the moment, you could even do a day trip on SEN-AMS-LTN, without having the cost of a hotel.

I would have travelled by train that would take around 2 hours from Parkway to Southend Airport with 2 changes, 3 if I took the Dart from Luton Airport. I discovered it was considerably cheaper to book 2 tickets rather than a single through ticket.

I wouldn’t fly from Southend when I have an airport on the doorstop but I was looking forward to seeing what has been voted the UK’s favourite airport even if it would have been from landside only. I haven’t given up and will have another look at the schedule in the spring.

i have got to say though that I had a love affair with that wooden terminal and I doubt the glass replacement would be an improvement, as I am a nostalgia freak.

SEN also now gets the ALC too,
along with PMI FAO AGP GNB GVA CDG and AMS (All on EasyJet Europe flights)

SEN is really picking up, with BH Air doing a high season summer holidays charter to Bourgas too.