bmibaby737 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 1636 posts, RR: 10 Posted (2 years 8 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 8084 times:
Flybe Pursuing Purchases for next phase of growth
Well it sounds like Flybe is heading into yet another exciting chapter as the UK’s biggest domestic carrier said it’s in talks over two more purchases.
The successful airline took over BA Connect from British Airways PLC in 2007, which helped it double its passenger totals and add 50 routes to its network. According to the airline, these latest acquisitions being considered are “digestible” rather than “transformational”.
“We’ve got two projects running with regard to acquisitions,” Jim French said, without disclosing a likely value for the transactions. “We’re looking for regional purchases. I’d describe them as bridgeheads into Europe. We see the next phase of development for Flybe very much to be in continental Europe.”
While purchasing BA Connect made Flybe Europe’s largest regional carrier by passenger numbers, all of the airlines routes currently are to or from the UK, or entirely domestic. The next phase of its expansion will see the airline establishing bases overseas, at which it shall build networks.
So with Flybe’s recent Air France codesharing agreements and its success and recent focus on France, could Airlinair be a target for the Exeter based airline? Rumours are circulating of a Cityjet takeover, but with the VLM integration having only just taken place, and its own large focus on the UK could it be that much of a gain, particularly with its strong foothold at London City Airport?
Further regional airlines of Europe include Air Nostrum, Brit Air, Finncomm Airlines, Portugalia and FlyBaboo all of which could help the airline put its foot further into the respective countries.
In related news, Embraer has gained in share prices these past few weeks as traders speculate the news from Flybe will mean an ever increasing order book for its E-Jet family.
Icarus75 From France, joined Oct 2003, 768 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (2 years 8 months 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 7933 times:
Quoting bmibaby737 (Thread starter): Further regional airlines of Europe include Air Nostrum, Brit Air, Finncomm Airlines, Portugalia and FlyBaboo all of which could help the airline put its foot further into the respective countries.
As Brit Air is doing a lot of flighs on behalf of AF, I doubt that it can be bought by FlyBe.
planesailing From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2005, 802 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (2 years 8 months 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 7890 times:
Quoting bmibaby737 (Thread starter): Rumours are circulating of a Cityjet takeover, but with the VLM integration having only just taken place, and its own large focus on the UK could it be that much of a gain, particularly with its strong foothold at London City Airport?
They are in bankruptcy protection and there were rumours when that happened that Flybe could be interested.
Quoting bmibaby737 (Thread starter): According to the airline, these latest acquisitions being considered are “digestible” rather than “transformational”.
Does this include the airlines existing fleets, therefore either a Q400 or ERJ operator.
SR4ever From Luxembourg, joined Mar 2010, 765 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (2 years 8 months 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 7764 times:
Quoting Icarus75 (Reply 2): As Brit Air is doing a lot of flighs on behalf of AF, I doubt that it can be bought by FlyBe.
Unless AF itself acquires BE. In the past, until British European became Flybe, AF and BE would work a lot together, especially on London-French Regions and Paris-Jersey.
Expect a tough battle between AF and BA to take over BE, if there is an opportunity.
Perhaps we could see further euro-wide consolidation of regional airlines around AF-KLM, namely the merger of:
airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4015 posts, RR: 52 Reply 6, posted (2 years 8 months 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 7684 times:
On my recent FlyBaboo flight, the crew was worried about their future since there were rumours that Cityjet/AF will takeover FlyBaboo. No talks about FlyBE.
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
SR4ever From Luxembourg, joined Mar 2010, 765 posts, RR: 1 Reply 8, posted (2 years 8 months 1 day ago) and read 7302 times:
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 6): On my recent FlyBaboo flight, the crew was worried about their future since there were rumours that Cityjet/AF will takeover FlyBaboo.
If so, perhaps LX would be well-advised to go for a purchase of F7...
Timboflier215 From United Kingdom, joined exactly 8 years ago today! , 1238 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (2 years 8 months 1 day ago) and read 7249 times:
I always thought BE would buy bmi regional and/or bmi baby, but nothing ever came of that. Will be interesting to see how their European expansion goes, I guess they have to find somewhere to put all those E-Jets....
IBA346 From France, joined Jan 2010, 27 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (2 years 8 months 23 hours ago) and read 7059 times:
What about Sun Air (EZ) ? Its the BA franchise operating mainly out of Bilund.
After absorbing BA Connect and the Logonair franchise, BE seem well placed to absorb another bit of BA!. EZ closed some routes recently (Paris, Gdansk) so they may be in need of help.
vv701 From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 6621 posts, RR: 17 Reply 11, posted (2 years 8 months 22 hours ago) and read 6838 times:
Quoting SR4ever (Reply 4): Unless AF itself acquires BE. In the past, until British European became Flybe, AF and BE would work a lot together, especially on London-French Regions and Paris-Jersey.
Thia could only happen with the agreement of the Walker Trust who own 69 per cent of flybe. A further 15 per cent is owned by BA while the remaining equity is owned by employees of the airline.
Pe@rson From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 18830 posts, RR: 54 Reply 12, posted (2 years 8 months 12 hours ago) and read 5703 times:
Quoting bmibaby737 (Thread starter): “We’re looking for regional purchases. I’d describe them as bridgeheads into Europe. We see the next phase of development for Flybe very much to be in continental Europe.” I added the emphasis.
PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 11122 posts, RR: 63 Reply 14, posted (2 years 8 months 12 hours ago) and read 5519 times:
Well Finncomm has essentially just been bought by Finnair, BritAir is owned by Air France, Air Nostrum is privately owned but well outside of BE's league for anything other than a merger and Portugalia is owned by TAP which potentially just leaves Baboo.
I think they had better be careful with European expansion. Too much room to get it all wrong, because whilst in the UK there is comparatively little alternate competition on domestic routes, in Europe you have multiple HSR networks to contend with. On intra EU flights expansion may find them coming up against EasyJet and Ryanair etc... which is a battle they are unlikely to win.
I guess Baboo is the most likely bet then. They also have Dash 8s so the fleet would fit nicely.
Quoting PlymSpotter (Reply 14): On intra EU flights expansion may find them coming up against EasyJet and Ryanair etc... which is a battle they are unlikely to win.
Flybe have a history of resurrecting former easyJet and Ryanair routes where the A319 or 737 turns out to be too large for the market. There's no reason why they couldn't do this in Europe.
Next flights: LGW-LBA-LGW, LHR-SIN-SYD, SYD-BKK-LHR, LGW-GRO, GRO-CIA, CIA-MAD, MAD-LGW
PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 11122 posts, RR: 63 Reply 16, posted (2 years 8 months 11 hours ago) and read 5472 times:
Quoting sam1987 (Reply 15): Flybe have a history of resurrecting former easyJet and Ryanair routes where the A319 or 737 turns out to be too large for the market. There's no reason why they couldn't do this in Europe.
I wasn't aware of there being that many, a couple perhaps, but certainly not a history? I know recently they have launched a fanfair of replacement flights as FR pulls out of BHD, but I don't honestly see that working. Most people only used FR because they were the cheapest and happened to fly into City, now they will move to the next cheapest and I have my doubts that this will be BE.
SR4ever From Luxembourg, joined Mar 2010, 765 posts, RR: 1 Reply 18, posted (2 years 8 months 10 hours ago) and read 5180 times:
Quoting vv701 (Reply 11): Thia could only happen with the agreement of the Walker Trust who own 69 per cent of flybe.
Well, if AF-KLM brings enough cash on the table, I am pretty sure an agreement can be made.
From a Competition Law point of view, BE going for AF-KLM and Skyteam would raise fewer issues than if it was acquired by BA and joined OW, in my view.
Quoting PlymSpotter (Reply 14): in Europe you have multiple HSR networks to contend with
Agreed, but notwithstanding HSR, there remain quite many untested opporunities.
Flybe used to be called British European.. so basically FlyBritishEuropean is shorted to FlyBE.
BMI Baby was an ofshoot of BMI, I guess they wanted to to keep the familiar branding but differentiate the product. Baby is supposed to hint at cheap fares, or the airline with 'Tiny Fares' as they like to say.
AirGabon From Switzerland, joined Dec 2003, 852 posts, RR: 3 Reply 20, posted (2 years 8 months 10 hours ago) and read 5041 times:
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 6): On my recent FlyBaboo flight, the crew was worried about their future since there were rumours that Cityjet/AF will takeover FlyBaboo. No talks about FlyBE.
FlyBaboo is in very bad financial situation (30 mln loss) and will ground 2 aircraft next winter. As far as I understand, as they have strong links with AF, they are part of FlyingBlue and code-share with AF, AZ, RO... a takeover by Cityjet/AF would be a serious possibility. Also heard about FlyBe
vv701 From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 6621 posts, RR: 17 Reply 21, posted (2 years 8 months 7 hours ago) and read 4494 times:
Quoting SR4ever (Reply 18): Well, if AF-KLM brings enough cash on the table, I am pretty sure an agreement can be made.
This would depend on the wording of the agreement when BA made their investment in BE. There may be no restriction on Walker Group selling out their shares or to whom they sell them. But there is more likely to be some restriction in the agreement. It may give BA a first option on the purchase of the Walker Group's interest. Or there may be a time restriction or even a total restriction on a sale to another airline. It is even possible although less likely that BA has a veto on such a sale.
Quoting SR4ever (Reply 18): From a Competition Law point of view, BE going for AF-KLM and Skyteam would raise fewer issues than if it was acquired by BA and joined OW, in my view.
I am only aware of one route operated by both IAG (BA/IB) and BE. It is LGW-JER. So I do not see competition law being relevant to such a takeover. There is, of course, much greater route duplication between AF/KL and BE. As an example both operate services between CDG and BHX, EDI, MAN and SOU. And there are other routes like AMS-SOU that both operate. So the competition issues would be much greater if AF/KL tried to buy BE. However I would have doubted that they would be a show stopper.
joost From Netherlands, joined Apr 2005, 3128 posts, RR: 4 Reply 22, posted (2 years 8 months 7 hours ago) and read 4445 times:
What about Augsburg Airways: fully owned by a private capital company (Aton GmbH). Flying Q400s and E195s for LH regional, so it would be a nice fleet match as a bonus. More so, as it is owned by a private capital fund, which might be willing to sell it for the right price (they also sold Cirrus last year, and they once owned 25% of dba which they sold to AB), and it's not too big.
Humberside From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2005, 4901 posts, RR: 5 Reply 23, posted (2 years 8 months 5 hours ago) and read 4098 times:
Quoting IBA346 (Reply 10): EZ closed some routes recently (Paris, Gdansk) so they may be in need of help.
They've also started Billind-BMA and BMA-HEL
They would probably be a very bad fit for Flybe since they currently fly Dornier 328's. Big capacity jump to a Dash 8 Q400
Quoting vv701 (Reply 21): As an example both operate services between CDG and BHX, EDI, MAN and SOU.
BE ditched EDI-CDG not long after they took over BA Connect. AF are giving up SOU-ORY with the start of the BE codeshare (AF moved SOU service from CDG a while ago, and BE are moving their SOU-Paris service from CDG to ORY with the start of the codeshare, leaving CDG-SOU unserved)
Quoting bmibaby737 (Thread starter): So with Flybe’s recent Air France codesharing agreements and its success and recent focus on France, could Airlinair be a target for the Exeter based airline?
Brit Air (so AF at the end) owned a big stake in Airlinair (about 20% I think), so technically, yes, BE could take a part but it seems unlikely to me
25 joost: True, but after FlyBE took over BA Connect, they got a whole fleet of ERJ-145s. They flew them for a while, and replaced them with bigger Q400s and E
26 Humberside: Though there is a even bigger difference between a D328 and a Q400 than from a ERJ-145 to a Q400 BRU/DUS would be hard to make work on a double weekd
27 GSTBA: It was just under three weeks ago that rumours surfaced that AF where considering starting a budget operation http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...-
28 bmibaby737: This is what I personally believe! Flybe will purchase some of these carriers, modernise the fleet and operate them in Air France colours.
29 sam1987: Trouble is... Flybe will want to keep their own low cost brand. I don't see them flying in AF colours.
30 PlymSpotter: That would be fun with the French unions... they don't like change. I can't see the point either in changing ATRs for Dashes, there comes a point wher
31 shamrock604: Why? What would be the point? Why would AF lose the profits that these carriers are perfectly capable of making? Not only does AF gain the revenue fr
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