In a highly unusual move, the failed carrier’s administrators, Interpath Advisory, is seeking the permit from the CAA, which will allow it to engage with the authority and others to restructure the business.
A source close to the administration said gaining the licence would allow administrators to explore a sale. “We have a short window in which we can try to get some sort of sale agreed for the business and assets,” they added.
Among those assets are understood to be seven pairs of slots at Heathrow and five at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, with the Heathrow slots potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
They were awarded to Flybe by regulators as “remedy slots” to ensure competition in 2012 after British Airways purchased rival regional carrier British Midland. “We very much see the slots as part of the asset base of the company,” said the source.
Interpath is still in discussions with potential buyers with the process understood to be fast-moving. It is thought to be the first time the CAA has been asked to grant a temporary licence, which gives Flybe 12 months to restructure.
The licence application was made on 28 January, the day the carrier collapsed. A CAA spokesperson said: "Flybe’s administrators have applied for a temporary operator’s licence. If approved, it would allow the administrators to start the process of restructuring the business.
“The UK Civil Aviation Authority has not yet made a decision on whether to grant a temporary licence. Flybe’s licence currently remains suspended in accordance with the undertakings given by the administrators."
Administrators will have to meet a number of financial criteria in order to be accepted but will not need to disclose their intentions for the Flybe brand. The granting of the licence does not mean Flybe can begin flying again.
Flybe lasted less than a year following its rebirth in April 2022 after the original brand and business ceased flying in March 2020 and was sold to Thyme Opco, a firm controlled by Cyrus Capital.
Its collapse left 75,000 forward bookings and 321 staff facing unemployment. The timing of the Flybe relaunch, as the UK emerged from the pandemic, did not help its prospects, nor did the fact that rivals had already filled many of the routes vacated by Flybe’s original collapse.
