Connect Airways
Connect Airways was a consortium formed in December 2018 to acquire the British regional airline Flybe, which had put itself up for sale in November 2018 after issuing a profit warning the previous month, The consortium comprised Virgin Atlantic and the Irish wet-lease specialist airline Stobart Air.
Company type | Private limited company |
---|---|
Industry | Aviation |
Founded | 18 December 2018 |
Founders | Virgin Atlantic Stobart Aviation |
Defunct | 10 March 2020 |
Fate | Under administration |
Headquarters | Exeter Airport, Devon, England |
Key people | Mark Anderson, CEO |
Products | Airlines |
Owners |
|
Subsidiaries | Flybe |
Website | connect-airways |
The consortium was founded by Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Aviation and Cyrus Capital Partners through its Luxembourg-based vehicle DLP Holdings. Virgin and Stobart each held 30% of the capital with Cyrus holding the remaining 40%. Cyrus Capital had previously worked with Virgin Group on the launch of its Virgin America airline and its subsequent sale to Alaska Airlines.
The purchase of the operating assets of the Flybe Group was completed on 21 February 2019.
On 5 March 2020, the consortium was unable to commit further financial support and Flybe entered administration, ceasing all operations. On 10 March 2020, Connect Airways in turn entered administration.