Coventry airport closed with immediate effect.

[markw]

Posted tonight on the Birmingham Airport BANAD forum, not sure of the source but looks official:

Councillor Kevin Foster of Coventry City Council has today made it known
that they have reached an agreement with Airport Development Partners s.a.
(ADP)of Lausanne, Switzerland to take over the lease of Coventry Airport.
This is subject to 30 days for "due diligence" so is not yet finalised.
Apparently the official announcement will be tomorrow and a senior person
from ADP will be interviewed on the Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Coventry &
Warwickshire tomorrow. Unfortunately no time specified but between 6am and
9am.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/coventry/hi/tv_and_radio/

The following is some background information about ADP:-
Airport Development Partners s.a. ( http://www.adp.aero )are a Swiss registered
company which is a subsidiary of an American commercial property and
infra-structure company, Westcore Properties Inc. (http://www.westcore.net )based
in San Diego.
Marc Brutten is founder and President of Westcore and chairman of ADP. He is
also Chairman of a cosmetics company and part owner of an NBA basketball
team, a hotel company, a regional bank and a multimedia video company.
Additionally, he is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), National
Association of Industrial and Office properties (NAIOP), Society of
Industrial and Office Realtors and the International Council of Shopping
Centers (ICS). He is a current board member of The New Children's Museum and
a director of California Republic Bank.
The company blurb says Marc Brutten “has been particularly successful in the
acquisition of portfolios and properties that require repositioning and
aggressive management in order to function more successfully in their
environments.
ADPs Executives are Chief Executive, Thomas Frankl (a Luxembourger) , Chief
Investment Officer , Everett Frost (from USA) and General Manager, Zbig
Labaj (from Poland). Not a Swiss in sight!
ADP has an Advisory Board which is most impressive. Past and current posts
held by Advisory Board members include:-
• Director General of the Airports Council International
• Management and development of six major US airports including John
F. Kennedy International Airport, La Guardia Airport and Newark
International Airport.
• Official responsible for airport safety standards for the FAA
• President and CEO of Air Transport Association of America
• General Manager of Airports Group International
• Director of Göteborg-Landvetter airport
• Director General of Swedish CAA
• Council member of ICAO
• Director General of ICAO
• Deputy Secretary General of the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA)
• President and CEO of Swissport International
• CEO and Director General of SITA
ADPs way of working
"Based on the experience of its Advisory Board and management, and relying
on its unique, extensive network of industry contacts, Airport Development
Partners works with its own core team of experienced managers and
consultants.
Our philosophy is not to replace an airport management team [different at
CVT] but to support and supplement the existing airport management where
necessary, e.g. in expanding the market base of the airport through
developing their scheduled and charter passenger operations, air freight and
business aviation opportunities.
By developing an airport´s growth potential and the breadth and quality of
its services, the airport will make a substantive contribution to economic
competitiveness, job creation and to the region´s image – and to the
country´s international reputation."

ADP give no details on their website about which airports they are involved
in. From other sources it would appear that Coventry may be the first
airport where they have had total control as opposed to working in
partnership with others. Airports linked with ADP include:-
Sion, Switzerland
Gdansk (new terminal development) + another Polish airport, possibly Krakow
Vienna (development of Cargo facility)
Bratislava (development of Cargo facility)
Yemen

Don't like to see "in expanding the market base of the airport through
developing their scheduled and charter passenger operations, air freight and
business aviation opportunities" as it was the expansion into Scheduled which got them into the mess their in now when the Department for the Environment and regions refused the planning application for the new terminal as being incompatible with the designation of BHX as the primary passenger airport for the West Midlands. The odd Saturday ski special or bucket and spader to Jersey would be fine and in accordance with National guidance but if they have plans for another terminal to handle large numbers they will get in a pickle again. However, good news for all the stuff getting squeezed out of Birmingham who want to land somewhere close by.

[markw]

More from Banad, apparently the CEO of the company hoping to buy Coventry was interviewed on local BBC Parish Pump FM and seemed quite upbeat.

Thomas Frankl, CEO of Airport Development Partners has just been interviewed
on local radio about their plans for Coventry Airport.

He said "unless we find some serious dead bodies in cupboards, we will do
the deal" at the end of the due diligence process. He confirmed that it is
the first airport they have totally controlled.
He said the previous owners had not matched staff with business and they
would start with a core team and build from there.

As to what they would do to develop the airport, he said Maintenance
facilities would be a high priority (He mentioned this more than once and
suggested it might be more than one.
He said they would use their contacts to develop business aviation and that
they would build infrastructure to enable them to develop the freight
business - he said heir American parent had particular expertise in this.
On passenger flights he was very cautious but said eventually, as the
economy improved there could be some "specialist" destinations (he mentioned
Grenoble for skiing, but "no Ryanair".

All in all, pretty upbeat although it sounds as if the initial employment
might be limited.

Seems a sensible plan, focussing on freight and repair work with limited niche passenger activity. Hopefully the repair and maintenance side will develop and create local employment in an area which could do with some skilled engineering jobs after the decimation of the local car factories.