Airport sale set to complete as losses soar by £millions
Gloucestershire Airport is on course to be sold by the end of January, but with losses soaring and debts rising will the two local authorities who own it have anything to show for it afterwards?
Dear readers,
Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Raikes Journal CIC. Today we revisit the saga that is the sale Gloucestershire Airport - just days from the change of ownership.
Why does it matter?
It matters not just because people are passionate about aviation, and they have strong opinions on whether the land - one of the last bits of green space between Gloucester and Cheltenham - should be developed or not.
And then there are the numerous successful companies on the site’s two business parks that depend on its airport status. We know investment has already been frozen by some businesses and exit strategies investigated.
The airport is also a public asset. Despite that, we still don’t really know exactly how much the sale is for. Only time will tell how watertight the assurances are from the two local authorities that currently own it that it will remain a working airport.
Accompanying the saga has been speculation that if it were sold for development instead the land at Staverton could be worth more than 10 times the current asking price - a figure that would solve the financial challenges facing both local authorities.
Before Christmas Gloucester City Council revealed out of the blue that it was effectively bankrupt and had asked central government for up to £17.5m to help.
This is also a county that is looking to attract significant investment going forward, for projects such as the Golden Valley Development, which is also in the hands of Cheltenham Borough Council.
Enjoy.
Best regards,
Andrew Merrell (editor).
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Airport sale set to complete as losses soar by £millions
Gloucestershire Airport is on course to be sold by the end of January, but with losses soaring and debts rising will the two local authorities who own it have anything to show for it afterwards?
By Andrew Merrell.
The controversial sale of Gloucestershire Airport is on track to complete in the next few days, but with with losses soaring and debts rising will the public purse benefit at all from the £25 million-plus sell-off?
Raikes understands the 375-acre site will be in new ownership by January 31 (2026), just over a year from when the current custodians, Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucester City Council, put it up for sale.
It is no secret that the airport - an arms-length company set up by the two local authorities to try to create a stand-alone business and remove it from local politics - is loss-making, but Raikes can reveal those losses have soared in the last 12 months.
So much so that along with existing debt the total appears to threaten to wipe out much of the revenue that would be generated from the sale (assuming that debt is not already factored into the sale price).
Directors’ remuneration has also risen significantly too in the last 12 months - as have staff numbers.
A sale will put the Staverton airport in the hands of a new business called Horizon Aero Group, a joint venture between Vayu Aviation Services Ltd (UK) and Vensa Infrastructure Ltd (India).
It is a journey that has been mired in controversy, with tenants on the airport’s two business parks, and those in favour of keeping the airport operational, critical of the tender process, of communication from the local authorities, and sceptical of the motives of the preferred bidder too.
It has been speculated by some that the site’s true value, if sold for redevelopment instead, would be £300m-plus - and that this is the real prize Horizon Aero Group is after.
It has also been suggested by some the council would do well to consider capitalising on that themselves - an amount of money could help clear debts at both local authorities - rather than petting such gains flow out of the county.
Just before Christmas it the city council revealed it is in dire financial straits and has sought a £17.5m bail out loan from the Government.
But both local authorities categorically reject both the £300m valuation and the suggestion the land could be used for anything other than an airport, pointing out the deal with Horizon Aero Group includes protective covenants and a commitment from the business to run it as an airport.
Raikes has spoken to at least one expert who suggests the small print of such covenants is surmountable and told us the valuation is not unreasonable, if the land was able to be sold for houses instead.
Throw in criticism from some that the new owners do not have a track record of running an airport business, and since the sale has been announced some businesses on the site have already changed their investment plans and are considering leaving to secure their future elsewhere.
Shortly after the deal with Horizon Aero Group was made public the airport’s managing director, Jason Ivy, brought in two years previously to prepare the airport for sale, announced he would be leaving the business “to pursue other interests”.
Ivy’s resignation letter said he believed Horizon Aero Group was “exceptionally well-positioned to take the airport forward” and to develop it into a “thriving aviation hub”.
But he is not the only managing director to serve only a short term at the airport. Before him was interim manager Mark Perkins, who stepped in from April 2023 until Ivy’s appointment in the August of that year.
And before that, Karen Taylor became interim MD in 2021 before quitting in June 2023.
Gloucestershire Airport’s latest accounts (published last week on 7 January) for the year ending March 2025, show turnover was up marginally - from £5m to £5.1m - but also a significant increase in its losses.
A £1.5 million loss in 2024 grew to £5.1m in 2025, directors’ remuneration for the year rose by 267 per cent, from £59,339 to £217,559, and staff numbers were up from 41 to 51.
The amount the business now owes to its debtors - believed to be mainly the city and borough councils - is £20.9m, which falls due within one year.
That’s up from £19.3m in 2024. According to its own records, total equity in the business fell - from £19.5 million to £11.9m.
David Johnson of Avison Young Ltd valued the investment properties on the site at £19.105m with development land plots up for sale at £1.44m
Interest on the loans is currently racking up at £800,000 a year. The councils made just £74,627 from the business last year.
Council chiefs said this week they were “very confident” the deal would go through and remained in regular contact with Horizon Aero Group.
Andrew Hearne, the city council’s head of place, told councillors at a meeting of the overview and scrutiny committee that the buyers had “updated us on their funding position and gave us reassurance as to where they are seeking their funding”.
“While I can’t give details of where that funding is coming from because that would breach sensitive information, there are a number of different funders the buyer is engaging in,” said Hearne.
Advice on the sale of the airport was provided by Savills UK, Cheltenham-based BPE Solicitors LLP and Gloucestershire accountants Hazlewoods.