MAG didn't buy HUY at the same time as Bournmouth and EMA, they bought it as a sop to MR Prescott and his buddies and in return got the go ahead for runway 2 at MAN.

HUY may make an operating profit, but as a stand alone company within MAG it still has substantial debts, which no doubt MAG will see to as part of the sale package.

I can't see the BAA being remotely interested, the airport may have a nice long runway and good technical facilities, but the terminal is a tip and couldn't cope with many extra passengers without expansion.
As for passengers, yes, the figures are OK but will not grow significantly to warrant significant investment by anyone.
HUY has been badly affected by the development of Donny/Robin Hood and that will no doubt continue as Donny expands and goes for HUY's jugular.
No wonder key staff are job hunting elsewhere.

It's a crap time to be selling anything, never mind an airport and I can see MAG unloading it at a bargain basement price, to any of the following:

1) Eastern Airways - not as daft as it sounds, Mr Lake knows his stuff, is personally wealthy enough to buy it and could do as well or better than most of the plonkers who've run it before.

2) The quarry company across the road - they're an international lime/chalk exporter and HUY is sitting on the limestone/chalk equivilant of a goldmine.

3) Another airport operator - possibly, but they'd have to do it from their own assets, borrowing would cripple them for the small return they'd get.

4) Back to the Council - the most unlikely option, but such a daft idea they might just think of it for themselves.

HUY sounds very similar to BOH even down to the crappy facilities and quarry accross the road.

The current director of BOH is retiring and being replaced by none other than the current director of geuss who????

You guessed it HUY!!!!!!!

Hopefully BOH won't come to a similar end.

Pug.

Items 1, 3 and 4 are realistic.

The other two were flippant irony, hope that clears up the terrible confusion I caused....:rolleyes:

I dunno Niknak, 2 & 5 look good bets as well...:}

Peel Airports, Eastern Airways, Or Even Jet 2??:confused:

Infratil or TBI decent bets. Why would Peel buy, they own RHADS and need to spend money on DTV.

TBI? too busy propping up Luton, Belfast and various others.

Infratil? too busy trying to survive and service the money they owe to their investors to invest in another airport of dubious commercial viability...

:sad:BAA will have HUY as part exchange for Gatwick:=

HUY was developing well traffic wise pre-MAN. Unfortunately the capital required for necessary infrastructure developments/improvements was not available from the four council owners. Hence the sale. Passenger numbers immediatley pre-sale to MAN exceeded 450k per annum, so MAN hasn't done a great deal traffic wise. MAN has financed some necessary infrastructure needs. Has probably reached its realistic zenith with DSA just down the road.

Bought for political reasons by MAN.

H49

And the new incumbetant of HUY is Mr Tony Lavan...............who has presided over the demise of MANs in house baggage company Ringway Handling.............losing 330 jobs.

Nothing like promoting someone who has made a hash of things..........incidently the rest of the Ringway Management team have all found themselves cosy not-applied-for jobs at MAN.

Good luck.

Charter News
 

Lanzarote has been restored for Summer 2009 though not in the Scottish School Holidays.

Also Airtours have added a few FUE charters next winter in early November, Christmas, March and April with the "based" TCX aircraft. New winter charter destination for HUY

Helen,
complete nonsense:rolleyes:.

Pre MAG, the joint owners could easily have afforded to make any investment required, they were offered a car salesman's deal and didn't spot the implications.
It is well established that at the same time, MAG were seeking Mr Prescott's approval for runway 2 at MAN and, by complete coincidence, MAG made an offer to the four owners of HUY to buy the airport for a nominal fee in return for around 89% of the shares.
Shortly afterwards, MAG got approval at MAN for runway 2.

MAG took on the massive debt at HUY, most of which still exists today, in return for that shareholding and NE Linc's council remain the other shareholder.
Pre MAG, HUY was not developing pax wise, it was halfway between static and stagnent with the airport management offering ludicrous deals to airlines to come and have a go at hopeless schedule destinations which proved beyond doubt to be utterly worthless.
Post MAG, the charter figures did OK on the IT flights, but not suprisingly and despite having three years notice of Robin Hood opening, HUY management did nothing to make terms more attractive to operators and HUY is going down the plughole very fast.

Overall, MAG have done very well out of HUY, they've got rwy 2 at MAN which is worth far more than the small amount they've spent at HUY and now they'll be able to walk away, perhaps not making a profit, but in real terms, they've not made a bad decision.

HUY for Sale
 

A quick correction. HUY's purchase had nothing to do with Runway 2 at MAN.

MAN R2 was approved by a Tory Government in January 1997. MAG bought HUY in 1999 when R2 was being built.

Didn't Peel own Sheffield airport and make a nice little earner flogging off the land?

Although not impossible, find it highly unlikely Peel will get their hands on it. MAG may not want to sell to the competition, its fodder against EMA... Then cnsider the councils minority share and where the airport lies. Would they not require planning permission for the site to be anything else? Its not exactly in the best position for a multi million pound business park. Surely there would be some competition laws preventing this anyway?

HUY was destroyed by a MAG-centric philosophy.
The whole ethos of HUY was that it should function in the same way as MAN, something that was pie-in-the-sky nonsense. HUY could never match the returns achieved at MAN for land deals and rents, it struggled to get the business park off the ground and despite interested parties willing to stump their own cash and build, these were not considered the 'right businesses' or capable of producing the 'right return' or 'not blue chip enough'.
It would seem MAG did not understand regional-local airport economics and worked a one style fits all strategy.
MAG invested in HUY, they paid for a terminal extension and new belt in arrivals, new fire kit, upgrading ILS, a larger long-stay car park, crane weights to stop terrorists (sorry, flippant!), but no doubt they also took back because of the vast amount of money they paid for purchasing in the first place.
I feel sorry for the staff at HUY, they are dedicated people who love 'their' airport. If only the Airport was in EMDA area rather than Yorkshire Forward's things might have been very different!
Richard Lake would no doubt love to get his hands on it (think he owns most of the hangars now anyway!), don't think he and his business partner ever got over selling off some of the land in the first place to enable the airport to become 'regional' rather than a flying club.
As to whom may buy, I think BAA is a no-no, TBI maybe, could be a mainland Europe operator looking for a toe-hold in UK, it could also be a developer who sees the land opportunity and connectivity to the heavy rail line and motorway junction intersecting within 2 miles of the airport. Not many places in the country with that type of format!

I dont think someone in an office in Nottingham or Derby or Norwich or wherever the EMDA are based would be any different to the current person sitting in a Leeds office. Be it EMA, or DSA/LBA, HUY will always be at the bottom of the pecking order due to it's small size.

Besides, North Bank support is needed (far more than Lincolnshire support, not that it isn't important) and HUY being in the same region is vital to acheive that since RDA's will always support and advertise their local airports

I know ive done this to death but i still believe a major rebranding is needed, perhaps if someone does come in with a big wision and bullish beliefs this is one thing that would be looked into. Humberside is no longer a region and the name is drab. There is no city of Humberside and Hull Lincolnshire International would sound so much better. Much north bank attention is needed and giving Hull a proper share in this would be valuable i believe in the long run.

Does anyone think maybe a regeneration company in Hull should be looking at the sale? They should not overlook its importance if they realy want to do something with the city...

There was an article in the Lincolnshire Mail (I think) a couple of years ago suggesting an airport at Lincoln or close by, because Doncaster was in Yorkshire and they did not rate HUY particularly (I think they thought HUY was on the way out even then). A dualling of the A15 would have a great effect to the good on HUY.
As to EMDA, they have spent a lot on EMA, Yorkshire 'Backwards', were having a love affair with Doncaster because of the (in my view) dubious Objective 1 status. HUY was not high on the radar as it did not hit the spots that Doncaster was promising...10,000 jobs, training, air schools etc.
Peel are developers and risk takers, MAG is risk averse (as a mainly Local Authority orientated business would be), Risk is not in its vocabulary.
They bought HUY to stop DCA, it failed, therefore they held it for a couple of years then, quietly knock it out after all the fuss has died down! :D

An east coast motorway would do best for everywhere Norfolk upwards, then the Humber bridge (if im right in thinking) would have its debt written off as it would be part of the motorway network.

The above will never happen though :=

I agree, MAG have tried running HUY as a major, little thinking has gone into the diversity of operations though tight as the business is. We have to hope that some big group somewhere will be interested in turning it around. Lets face it, i doubt it will ever see more than one million pax p/a, it can serve a wide variety of niche operations such as the import of perishables, the support of the major shipping industry and so on. This in turn could create a potential market for new routes and leisure services.

It takes time, needs someone who will invest big and has big vision to see reasonable results in the long term. It is possible just will it be recognised?