The company behind Southend Airport and former Eddie Stobart owner Esken has confirmed that it has fallen into administration today.

Esken said that administrators from AlixPartners had been appointed after it earlier in the day revealed that a potential restructuring plan was no longer “commercially viable.”

But a deal which secures the future of Southend Airport is unlikely to be affected by the administration, the business said, as ownership transition of Southend Airport to Carlyle and Cyrus Capital Partners from Esken is "progressing at speed".

Two weeks ago Esken reached an agreement to hand over the majority stake in the airport to private equity investor Carlyle Global Infrastructure Fund.

The deal was designed to settle the airport’s £193.75 million debt to Carlyle.

At the time, Esken said that it was trying to run a restructuring plan which could take several months.

But on Thursday morning the business revealed that it would abandon this plan and appoint administrators because of concerns about the way that the law works in Guernsey, where Esken is registered.

“Further to the announcement on March 6, the company has concluded (following detailed advice from advisers) that implementation of the proposed restructuring plan in relation to the company has ceased to be commercially viable,” the company said.

The company added: “Esken has therefore concluded that there is unacceptable risk associated with the court process to achieve the proposed outcome, which could also take considerable time to execute.

“Therefore, after detailed consideration of the company’s current financial situation, and absent any further viable proposals to deliver a stable solution to the challenges faced by the company, the board has now regrettably concluded that the company should be placed into administration in order to protect the interests of stakeholders.”

It confirmed the appointment of AlixPartners later in the day.

CEO of Southend Airport, John Upton, said: “Today’s announcement by Esken has no impact on LSA and its business as usual for all our passengers, airlines and teams here at the Airport. 

"The ownership transition of London Southend Airport to Carlyle and Cyrus Capital Partners from Esken PLC is progressing at speed and we’re all looking forward to the completion of this process very soon, which will further cement a financially strong future for our airport.

"With our busiest summer in five years coming up, we’re focused on serving the thousands of passengers who’ll be travelling with us each week to a range of wonderful destinations including Spain, The Netherlands, France, Portugal, and Switzerland.  Excitingly, our fast-growing Winter programme for 2024/25 has also just gone on sale.”

Esken used to be called Stobart Group, and was the business which owned logistics company Eddie Stobart.

But around a decade ago Stobart Group sold a majority stake in Eddie Stobart. Even after that it kept the right to the name Eddie Stobart, which it licensed out to the logistics firm.

Years later it sold the rights to the name to Eddie Stobart, which forced Stobart Group to change its name to Esken.