Thyme Opco completes flybe. aquisition, eyes summer return

Thyme Opco, the Cyrus Capital-controlled shell company that announced last October its intention to acquire flybe. (BE, Exeter), revealed on April 14 that it had completed the purchase of the collapsed carrier’s assets and business and aimed to restart flight operations this summer. Thyme Opco will now be renamed Flybe Limited. A spokesman for the carrier cautioned that relaunching services during the summer was subject to coronavirus travel restrictions, but ultimately the carrier will seek to revive much of its previous network. “Subject to further success with vaccinations and the relaxation of travel restrictions, we plan to launch a new and much improved Flybe sometime this summer on many of our former routes where there remains a critical need for a strong, reliable, and customer-focused airline,” the spokesman said. “While our company will initially be smaller than before, we intend to grow, create valuable jobs, and make significant contributions to essential regional connectivity in the UK and EU.” Ernst & Young (EY) restructuring partner Simon Edel, who was one of four administrators appointed to the airline when it collapsed in March 2020, added that “completion of the sale of Flybe is positive news for local communities previously served” by the carrier. The news comes a week after EY told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that it would appeal the decision of the United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to revoke the Operating Licence (OL) held by the airline’s former parent Flybe Group Limited. It insisted the OL remained valid. “Flybe intends to lodge an appeal against the Civil Aviation Authorities’ decision to revoke the carrier’s Operating Licence. Currently, and during any appeal process, the OL continues to remain valid,” it said. “In the meantime, Flybe continues to work with the purchaser of the carrier’s business and assets, Thyme Opco Limited, to complete the sale.” These assets primarily include flybe.’s take-off and landing slots at London Heathrow, which could be worth, in the Telegraph’s words, “tens of millions of pounds.” As previously reported, the CAA said in March that it would revoke flybe.’s operating and route licences. The CAA had argued in its decision that it was “concerned” with the financial prospects of Flybe Group as the current holder of the OL, as it was not satisfied that the company could meet its actual and potential obligations for the next 12 months. London-based Thyme Opco had been pressing ahead with the transaction, with EY saying that while its name would change to Flybe Limited, Flybe Group Limited would adopt the name FBE Realisations 2021.