bmi suspends flight to Paris

[Final 3 Greens]

Just noticed on the bmi site that the airline is suspending flights to Paris from 26 February, for "commercial reasons."

Does anyone know what is going on?

[6chimes]

basically there is to much competition from trains and the Lo Co's at the various airports in the south east that have mysteriously moved to london! The rebranding and the new business model have failed on a lot of the routes where they once panned the traditional carriers. But if you want to give a service like the Lo Co's yet expect passengers to pay because its out of LHR and with all the messing about you get from flying out of LHR, you may as well go through an easier/smaller airport with a real Lo Co.

The airline is moving into the mid haul market to get away from the Lo Co competition and take on the likes of Bmed. The end product looks like a mid to long haul carrier, using the slots from dropping european routes and keeping some domestic routes as feeders. The jury is out to see if this works or its another desperate kneejerk reaction and will fail like many other decisions made recently.

6

[Final 3 Greens]

Thanks 6, for the explanation - I can certainly understand the reasons behind the decision and it is brave to drop a "premier" route.

I have to go to RUH next month and considered trying the BD J service, but sadly the days do not align, maybe next time :)

[manintheback]

Shame really, shuttled with BMI twice a week for 2 years to Paris and at the start was easily the best short haul biz class with excellent miles and those mini season ticket offerings at economy prices. Then the whole operation just hit the skids.

[Globaliser]

For anyone interested, the CDG discussion starts here (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3069736#post3069736) on the bmi thread in AA&R.