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Post by Humberside on Jul 30, 2012 10:01:58 GMT
From a report on Bolton Council's website. Thjis was three months ago, but whatever happens, this confirms what MAG's view is on Humberside
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Post by pug on Jul 30, 2012 16:57:51 GMT
So since 2008 things have been just ticking over then, waiting for the right bid to come in..
Lincolnshire Business Airfield when/if RL is taking over?
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Post by tugman on Jul 30, 2012 18:33:09 GMT
The end is nigh? Is £2.3 m a steal for a going concern? Can we forget the holiday market? Or Will it be the end of this charade and see a year on year increase in charters? Interesting period for HUY.I hope we will not cease the holidays market but I fear that parties involved may only want Business travellers.
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Post by Humberside on Jul 30, 2012 21:45:00 GMT
The £2.3 million bid for MAG's stake would value HUY at about £2.78 million
The EBIT/Operating Loss expected for 2011-12 is £400,000, which is an improvement on the 2010-11 loss of £700,000. So the day-to-day finances at least are improving
What intrigues me is what has happenned since April - 3 months ago. Has the deal fallen through - and if, it has, it doesn't leave HUY in a great position with a majority shareholder making clear it's not part of it's long term portfolio
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Post by holdatcharlie on Jul 31, 2012 9:03:29 GMT
I guess getting a speedy decision from a company made up of so many local authorities is never going to be easy! So I wouldn't be too concerned yet.
I am puzzled by member's focus on the holiday market. What is wrong with building a strong (12 month's of the year) business base? I would imagine tour operators will only come in for knockdown rates - particularly as we see budget airline share prices fall - which may not be good long term.
If Eastern is the mystery buyer I don't think RL will just be buying it just to lower his costs. I hope he will see encouraging (non-rival) business to the airport as another revenue stream.
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Post by pug on Jul 31, 2012 9:49:51 GMT
Theres nothing wrong with the AMS and ABZ at all, but I will no longer be a customer due to the airport being unable to offer flights to where I want to go, and I will not be the only one. One of the biggest revenue sources (and profit, due to the relatively low overheads required) has always been car parking, they wont be doing well on that front considering passenger numbers are less than 50% of their peak value.
I hope the business routes that the Business Development manager mentioned a few months ago do come off, however its getting a bit late for flights starting 'later this year' to be announced..
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Post by Humberside on Jul 31, 2012 10:01:40 GMT
Charters - and any A320/B737 size aircraft flights - bring volume. And HUY has certain fixed costs to be able to able to serve this volume, such as the size of the terminal, car parks, runway etc. There are also the various terminal concessions who are going to want as high a volume or possible, or else they will want lower fees or hand back/not renew their concession/lease. And then there is the car park revenue already mentioned
Charters/low cost alone would not be enough for HUY, but if the market does not pick up, then the fear would be that any new owner would initiate a painful restructuring, that while possibly in the long term interest, could severely restrict HUY's ability to serve this market in the future - e.g. convert part of the terminal for offices, find other uses for some of the long stay car parks. And this would almost certainly mean job losses
Ideally what HUY needs is a strong mix of business, from charters, low cost, full service scheduled and helicopters to cargo, business aviation, general aviation, maintenance, based airlines and an industrial estate
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Post by pug on Jul 31, 2012 13:09:39 GMT
I would also add, it seems MAG have been waiting to offload HUY since 2008. It could be that they dont see any growth opportunity for the return they would like, or there are conflicting interests due to catchment overlap with EMA, or likely a bit of both. This would suggest to me that the BE and FR flights attracted under Tony Lavan had nothing to do with a greater MAG deal.
I would also be concerned about what Humberside has said. The facilities are 'sunk costs' and the capacity available is massively under utilised. Any prospective new owner could decide to keep these facilities open in the hope that they may attract those flights back in the future to provide the volume required to justify them, or they could as Humberside suggests, downsize the operation, to cut costs, but this would inevitably result in job losses. Once terminal capacity is reduced then it is unlikely to return.
I would also be concerned about restricted opening times were it not for T3 ABZ flights, if it is RL looking to take over.
I now hope that MAG have convinced the shareholders that a sale is the best option, and that if it really is RL interested in taking over he transfers his expertise in exploiting niche markets from an airline perspective to that of an airport.
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Post by elmfield on Jul 31, 2012 14:44:34 GMT
A quick examination shows that the airport's main 'indebtedness' is to its pension fund. Does anyone have any idea what the land and buildings are valued at since £2.3million , as someone has already stated, is on the face of it a 'steal' for a going concern....with a lot of land!
I had thought that the other buyer could be the owners of DSA who might do an SCA on HUY but, on reflection, would they want another weight around their neck with HUY's pension fund...which is, presumably, a legacy of the days when it was Council owned?
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Post by pug on Jul 31, 2012 14:59:22 GMT
Theres nothing in it for Peel, the location alone compared to SZD is not favourable for redevelopment. Rumours have been strong about RL, so there is no reason to think the offer had been made by anyone else. My concern now is whether all of the shareholders have agreed to the sale or not. If not then MAG will continue to keep the airport ticking along but offer nothing to help drive growth.
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Post by john2408 on Jul 31, 2012 22:26:43 GMT
I have been at the airport this evening, taking relatives for the Crete flight, which was full. On leaving i had a word with a person working within the terminal,about next year, the whisper was ALC on the way back, but did not know which airline, and also flights to the Canaries on the horizon. Asked also about the rumours of T/O, not heard anything, but said rumours are always going round.
Also i mentioned the tweet re Dalaman. but had seen this.
So possibly some thing to get our teeth into!!!
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Post by pug on Jul 31, 2012 22:33:27 GMT
It seems positivity coming from certain quarters at the airport, so I guess a takeover could be a good thing afterall. If a new owner is forthcoming then they may be able to invest more time into the airport than MAG can.
As for ALC and the Canaries, I dont doubt now that there are people working on this to make it become a reality again in the near future. Fingers crossed about this and other possible routes the airport hasn't seen for years.
What Tweet are you refering to re. Dalaman?
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Post by john2408 on Aug 1, 2012 20:15:46 GMT
See reply 64 on next years charters. Pug you commented on it reply 65.
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Post by Humberside on Aug 1, 2012 22:23:55 GMT
Do you mean the airport travel facebook comment?
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Post by pug on Aug 2, 2012 0:22:27 GMT
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