Plans for a private Swiss investor to take over the UK's regional Coventry Airport have collapsed after it concluded that the financial risks were too high.
Having initially expressed confidence in its proposal to take a long lease on the airport, re-open it and develop new business, Airport Development Partners has abandoned the plan.
Chief executive Thomas Frankl tells Flightglobal: "Effectively, having done the due diligence over a number of weeks, we can't really make the numbers work with a healthy risk-to-return ratio."
Coventry Airport closed in December as financial problems beset its management company.
Airport Development Partners had proposed a possible mix of maintenance, freight and business aviation activity.
Frankl, however, cites "planning issues" as a potential problem at Coventry, adding: "It's hard to balance the operational challenges with the real estate development."
Airport Development Partners would still be interested in managing the airport, he says, but cannot build a case for investment.
Coventry's previous management team had attempted to build a scheduled passenger operation from the airport but was unable to obtain planning permission for a new terminal building.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news