BMI going to Las Vegas

[kestral1]

Just been confirmed today that Bmi are going to Las Vegas press release to follow shortly

[sisyphus1965]

Where from, Manchester?
Is this part of the "co-operation" between Virgin Holidays and BMI out of Manchester.

[Scottie Dog]

I think you may find that this turns out to be a code-share with Virgin on the VS flight from Heathrow. Might be wrong - time will tell.

Scottie Dog

[The_Banking_Scot]

Hi Scottie Dog,

Currently the Virgin flights to Las Vegas leave from Gatwick, not Heathrow, I believe.



Regards

TBS

[TheOtherSide]

Anyone got any more news on this yet I understadn that Virgin are part of the MAN - Carribean route thing with BMI so it would not suprise me if they were to do the same with LAS. I definatly think now there are positive signs that BMI and Virgin are mixing lots of business anyone smell a takeover??

[keyboard flier]

Possibly.

Although can bmi cope with taking over Virgin?

:D :D :D :D :D

[thewhites]

OK everyone heres the deal BMI are flying direct to Vegas from 31 October!!!

Man-Las flight no BD 737 depts 0905.

Las-Man flight no BD 738 depts 1515.

Operates three days a week Tues, Thurs and Sunday.

Slots into days when Caribbean not going.

Looks like BMI doing this on their own!!!

Hope that clears up the speculation!!!:ok:

[elgan]

Fantastic, bmi are cementing their hold on MAN. Also heard that a Mumbai service will start in the Spring of 2005 daily. And i'm sur bmi will take up the options with Bus for more A330's:O

[egnxema]

Still nothing on the bmi website though - how come?

[Scottie Dog]

Nothing on the website yet?

Possibly because this should have been on the rumours board to begin with! I smell a leak here before the official announcement, with confirmation to follow shortly.

Scottie Dog.

ps - What is the situation on the bilateral with India?

[locohauled]

Trying to book flights to LAS from MAN via the website shows choices through Chicago and Washington.

[sisyphus1965]

Where are the aircraft coming from for an India service next summer?
If the Carribean and Las Vegas routes are year round they will not be able to operate Toronto next summer let alone India.

[elgan]

I have a friend who works in the Airbus Plant in Toulose, and he said bmi are to execute an order using the options they took on the A330 back in 2001, just incase they got rights to fly from LHR to US. G-WWBC was in a bmi tail, tho the body wasnt painted. Dunno if it was sold on:confused:

[thewhites]

Just to clarify as there seems to be some confusion Man - Las will be announced this week.

Toronto finishes at end of summer timetable this was always the case.

Hope that puts this one to bed and as for India who knows?:confused:

[sisyphus1965]

Does that mean Toronto in summer 2005 reverts back to Air Canada?

[elgan]

I'm not sure. I think AC wanna see bmi operating the route as they wanna free up those 767's for other routes,

[green737]

That would make sense as they have a very limited number of 762s which are free and these are needed for other routes.

[Localiser Green]

Any more news on the official release of this route?

Could do with booking a couple of MAN/LAS flights for this winter and not having to change in PHL would be a godsend.

[teifiboy]

thewhites

your info seemed pretty specific, but it seems to have gone very quiet!!!

[Faulty]

Just the government approval to come so it does look like bmi will start a non-stop service between Manchester and Las Vegas. Three times a week from 31 October 2004 and possibly using an A340?

http://dms.dot.gov/search/document.cfm?documentid=287033&docketid=18625

[Going loco]

Says they'll be using an A330 in the pdf document that can be opened via the above link.

Isn't that what you'd expect given it would seem to be designed to find employment for the 3rd machine between the Carribean flights?

loco

[Bezi l]

added to the fact that bmi don't have any A340's!!

[MAN_Dispatcher]

Elgan - the 4th A330, G-WWBC was delivered to Emirates.

Ref the A340, it has been gossip around the bmi camp for several weeks that the next wide-body in the fleet will be an A340, not an A330, probably leased-in.

[Localiser Green]

The 340 will be used on the ORD route apparently.

[elgan]

MAN_Dispatcher, thanks v much for that info.

[Bezi l]

Can I just sat once again..... bmi DO NOT HAVE ANY A340's... if another twin aisled aircraft is to join the bmi fleet it would be an A330.

[GOLF-INDIA BRAVO]

Bezi l

I think if you read MAN_Dispatcher
He says about leasing in an aircraft and I think there are A340-300 around, including Virgin who I`m sure have aircraft available as the A340-600 come on stream

Golf India Bravo

[energiser]

bmi will not buy/lease/borrow a 340 for one simple reason - it will not fit in with the policy of making all 330 pilots mixed short-haul/long-haul (MFF).

MFF is being extended now to all the 330 drivers, and we can't MFF fly 320/330 and 340 (maximum of two types at once). So the 340 would be too restrictive. Any further aircraft purchase would have to be a 330 to fit in with the present system.

However, the Vegas flights (if they go ahead - time is now short) seem to be timed to utilise the existing aircraft in between the Caribbean routes. So another aircraft would not be needed.

Also, the 330 would be able to fly the route comfortably - even with pax & cargo :)

[teifiboy]

I think you may be a bit premature to assume that the whole 330 fleet will be MFF

unless you have knowledge to the contrary, in which case apologies in advance:D

[energiser]

teifi,

No aplogies necessary :)

Most of us already are MFF, and those who are not are gradually finding A320 renewals appearing on their rosters!

Even as it stands at the moment, there would not be enough 330 only drivers to enable a viable 330/340 MFF operation. Let alone the cost/complication of having over half the fleet MFF 320/330, and the rest 330/340....can you imagine the number of new memos and SOP's that would generate ?! :)

[GOLDEN LION]

who's to say the A340 will be flown by BMI drivers ?????

maybe a damp lease brought in ?????

[Faulty]

Just to add to the A330/340 debate!!

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/gaming/2004/jul/16/517184714.html

[energiser]

Ahh yes...the 'four engined A330'. That clears things up then ;)

[Scottie Dog]

It must be true - the Americans have announced it! The A330 + 2

[FOZ]

I believe the talk of a 340 to be true, but word is that it will be for an as yet unannounced MAN-LAX route.

[Faulty]

Confirmed and now bookable


bmi expands long haul services from Manchester –
- new service launched to Las Vegas
- improved schedule and routing for Caribbean services

bmi, the UK’s second largest full service scheduled airline, is to further expand and develop its long haul services from Manchester this winter. The airline is launching direct flights to Las Vegas as well as making significant enhancements to its new Caribbean services.

Flights to Las Vegas launch Sunday 31 October 2004 and will operate three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Seats go on sale today and are bookable at www.flybmi.com or by calling bmi reservations on 0870 60 70 222. Special offer launch fares are available, starting at £399 return inclusive of taxes and charges.

[no, no, no]

The Caribbean developments are the addition of a Monday flight to St Lucia by the look of it...

Also doing some extra flights to Barbados around Christmas!

I presume they must be doing better than they had thought of in the Caribbean????????????????

Looks like things are looking up for their longhaul stuff!!! Good luck to them!

[EastMids]

Hope that one of their A330s doesn't go bang this winter - could be a fair bit of expensive subbing if it does!

A

[Globaliser]

MAN LAS OCT/31 0700 BD ->

[1] MAN LAS 31/0935 31/1255 BD751 C9 D9 J9 U9 L9 Y9 S9 B9 K9 M9 H9 Q9 V9 G9 W9 T9 N9 E4 [332] MAN LAS NOV/02 0700 BD ->

[1] MAN LAS 02/0935 02/1255 BD751 C9 D9 J9 U9 L9 Y9 S9 B9 K9 M9 H9 Q9 V9 G9 W9 T9 N9 E4 [332] MAN LAS NOV/04 0700 BD ->

[1] MAN LAS 04/0935 04/1255 BD751 C9 D9 J9 U9 L9 Y9 S9 B9 K9 M9 H9 Q9 V9 G9 W9 T9 N9 E4 [332]Does that settle that debate, then? :)

[Goodness Gracious Me]

Hope that one of their A330s doesn't go bang this winter - could be a fair bit of expensive subbing if it does!
Aah, you mean like one of them did at the beginning of last week & threw the YYZ (& possibly ORD?) operation into chaos?!? Last I heard, there was a broken A330 in Goose Bay with no crew to bring it home?

If the plan is to operate 4 routes with one aircraft, as far as I can see, there is absolutely no slack in the system for something to go wrong. Which, inevitably, it does.

Hope they've done their homework. ;)

[elgan]

All the best to bmi from MAN,and i'm sure we'll be hearing bout some more orders for A330's from them in the v near future!