Well, neither option is particularly pretty for existing Esken shareholders, however allowing Carlyle & Cyrus to recapitalise and restructure LSA by reducing down to a minority holding is obviously the lesser of the two evils compared to facing a potentially protracted legal battle and then them having to stump up £193m, which they clearly don't have readily available because they've effectively bet on the successful sale of SEN in order to pay back said loan.

Seeing as Esken's financial year is coming up at the end of this month (28th Feb, I believe?!), I wonder if they'll likely announce acceptance of this deal as early as next week.

Quote:

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The uncertainty that CGI's demand for repayment by LSA has created, has stalled any progress on (i) the disposal of non-core assets...

Source: https://tools.eurolandir.com/tools/P...wpf&v=redesign

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I wonder how, if at all, this affects the talks that were supposedly happening regarding the sale of Carlisle Lake District Airport (CAX) - I suspect that my hunch of there not actually being a potential buyer may well be true, however I'm more than happy to be corrected.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...280927#comment

Just been booking flights on the FR app and have noticed London Southend in the drop down menu with destinations Bilbao and Brest but no flights loaded. Very odd, as none of these airports have any other FR routes, is it something sport event related for later in the year?

Nothing for London-Southend shows up on their website at all.

Might it just be to test the functionality of the app so as to not cause issues with existing flights, or are we perhaps likely to hear/see an announcement of FR coming to SEN soon after Esken have decided whether to accept the deal that's been proposed to them by CGI...?!

As you say, it's very odd.

They've been sat there since they pulled out in 2021. Not sure why they never removed those two routes but they only show in the app and not the website. Given they no longer fly to Southend, Bilbao or Brest in any capacity maybe they've just kept them there as a perception they serve more airports. This is Ryanair mentality after all.

My unreliable source advises me that one end of a MAGlev railway will be housed in the STN extension and will provide a shuttle service between there and SEN, the latter to become London Stansted South(end) Terminal.

This will bring many benefits including the return of Ryanair and probably explains why SEN still features on their app.

Southend features on their app because someone hasn't bothered to remove it. No more no less

Looking at Aeroitalia Web site tonight and London Southend no longer appears - Oops!

To be fair, that doesn't necessarily mean the loss is due to the fault of SEN - although I'm sure the uncertainty of the ongoing situation with CGI may well be a contributing factor.

London to Milan is a very popular route and competition is high. Perhaps the BGY-SEN route simply hasn't sold as well as they initially had hoped/thought it would and therefore Aeroitalia have decided to withdraw it before it even begins, which does happen from time to time - there's no point in an airline attempting to start a route and accrue huge losses for the sake of it.

Also, they've just re-appointed their former CCO, Krassimir Tanev, last month, so perhaps he's already decided to make a few changes...?

I do feel for any passenger(s) that may have decided to book with them and are due to fly soon as Aeroitalia don't serve any other UK airport so they may well now be left in a situation where they've got to find alternative flights at short notice, which could be more expensive than what they've paid; I hope that Aeroitalia are prompt in making any refunds.

Just to note incase anyone reads this who is in that situation. Aeroitalia is responsible to get you there and will have to pay for the alternative travel under EU261. They shouldn’t be out of pocket.

To be honest, I looked at a few flights around a week ago and none of them had sold more than a dozen seats.

Milan no longer on airport website.

There will be no compensation. Airline has given required notice of cancellation.

It’s removed from the SEN website so that’s pretty conclusive. It will have zero to do with the airport’s uncertainties and everything to do with a lowest base fare with special discount excluding bags etc of £70 one way when Ryanair is routinely £20-50ish.

An unreliable airline as can be seen from their chopping and changing.

it isn't compensation.. it’s rerouting.

Quite frankly you could of probably have put your house on the flights never taking off.

Probably best to try and grow the partnership with easyjet at present.

Any news on the proposed agreement between Esken and Carlyle group ?

As I said before Easyjet will be the airports best bet if they want a route like that.

EDI-SEN-JER-SEN-EDI

I'd love to see that.

I believe they may already have JER covered ...

But EDI-SEN-IBZ-SEN-EDI would be appreciated!