In the previous year, the once largest regional airline in Europe, Flybe, had to file for bankruptcy. So far, the AOC and operating license have not been revoked, but the UK Civil Aviation Authority has now initiated proceedings to do so.

Towards the end of 2020, the trademark rights and some assets were taken over by Cyrus Capital. Under the Company name "Thyme Opco" the applications for AOC and operating license (OL) were submitted to the CAA. At the time, this was considered quite surprising, as the reactivation of the Flybe certificates that were still valid would have been possible.

Apparently that was not the intention from the start, because the "new Flybe" is supposed to Take off with a new AOC and a new OL. A leasing company secured the first aircraft as an aircraft DHC Dash 8-400, which was previously used by Austrian Airlines. The route rights that the "old Flybe" had will probably not be able to be taken over.

CAA will hold a hearing at the end of February 2021

The background to this is that they adhere to the operating license, which could now be revoked. Actually, the British CAA wanted to pull the plug on the insolvent "old Flybe" for a long time. Withdrawal proceedings were initiated as early as mid-April 2020, but the European Union, whose requirements UK still had to observe at the time due to the transition phase, relaxed the provisions retrospectively. The simple reason: Because of the corona pandemic, the national authorities across Europe would otherwise have had to withdraw AOC and OL from an enormous number of carriers.

Flybe's AOC has been suspended since December 16, 2020. Now it is about that this is finally withdrawn and at the same time the operating license and the route rights attached to it are canceled. A hearing will be held on February 26, 2021 in this context. Thyme Opco and owner Cyrus Capital are likely to be interested in the fact that the slots and route rights can be transferred to the new company.