On Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:13:36 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:
"Bruce" wrote in message

On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:27:44 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:
"Bruce" wrote:

Probably not interested in a ragbag assortment of tired old
aircraft.

... which are probably leased anyway.


Yes, but the leases don't lapse when a firm is taken over. Unless a
termination is negotiated, at a considerable cost, the leases will
simply be assigned to the new owners and continue to the end of their
terms.

So the condition of the fleet is important, and whether they are owned
or leased, they remain a liability.

So Lufthansa now has those leases. It's not likely that any airline
interested in operating the bmibaby routes would want to use those
particular aircraft to operate them -- they'd be much more likely to
want to use aircraft compatible with the rest of their fleets. So, the
chances are that, even if some of those routes continue to flown by
someone, it won't be those aircraft flying them, nor will the planes be
wearing bmibaby liveries.


Conversely, if Lufthansa succeeds in selling bmibaby, it will be a
high priority for Lufthansa to transfer those leases to the buyer as
part of the deal. The new owner of bmibaby, a low cost airline, is
perhaps rather more likely than Lufthansa to have any use for a
clapped out fleet, hopefully with much lower leasing costs than buying
new.

If the leases are not transferred on sale, Lufthansa will rightly
expect a higher price for bmibaby to compensate for the retained
liability of all those leases.