Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
The Manx government supported the Steam Packet to ensure they kept going. However, I can't see the Manx government rescuing Flybe in order to save just the Manx routes.
The Manx government already pay Flybe for hospital travel; anything too complex gets done at Alder Hey in Liverpool, and the Manx government pay the fares. I'm sure Stobart or even EasyJet would pick those deals up (indeed most Manchester/Liverpool flights are already Stobart after Flybe shut their IoM base last year).
I'm still guessing it's going to be a pre-pack admin, getting rid of debt and expensive leases and dumping any redundancy costs on the NI fund. Branson gets a profitable business out of it and the hirsute tax dodger gets to rinse the taxpayer again.
The Manx government actually bought the Steam Packet a couple of years ago, not so much to keep an unprofitable service going (the Steam Packet is actually very profitable- £10m profit on £60m revenue) but because the hedge fund owners were trying to rinse them.
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