BMI lays claim for India frequencies from LHR
Victoria Moores, London (06Oct04, 12:54 GMT, 431 words)
Star Alliance airline BMI has become the latest carrier to confirm its intent to snap up new route rights between the UK and India, unveiling plans to serve Mumbai and Bangalore from London Heathrow.
BMI is looking to fulfil its long-term ambition to operate long-haul services from Heathrow, offering a daily Mumbai service and six weekly flights to Bangalore from March 2005.
BMI chairman Michael Bishop says: “We are ready, willing and able to provide these extra services and with it vigorous new competition - and we would expect to receive a fair disposition of all the available frequencies.”
It joins the fray with British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways for the 21 extra flights per week, which were recently brokered between UK and Indian authorities. BMI has confirmed its plans to the UK Department for Transport (DfT), which is now expected to call the CAA to hold a scarce capacity hearing.
BMI legal director Tim Bye says: “I think it will be done reasonably quickly as the department knows the there is more demand from UK airlines than capacity. I’m sure [the CAA] will be under pressure to do it quickly.”
A portion of the new rights come into effect this winter, but BMI says it is not able to move quickly enough to establish services within this timeframe.
BMI’s long-haul network currently comprises three transatlantic services from Manchester, as its Heathrow-originating transatlantic long-haul ambitions continue to be thwarted by a lack of substantive progress in EU-US open skies negotiations.
The airline, which operates a fleet of three Airbus A330s on its intercontinental flights, will have to add a further two long-haul aircraft to perform the services.
Bye says: “I think that it is clear that it is not optimal to have a two [long-haul] aircraft operation at London Heathrow in the long-term. If we get into Heathrow then it is clear that in the long-run we would intend to operate more aircraft from there. It is not an optimal scale for a long-haul operation.”
A BMI spokeswoman says: “Aircraft won’t be a problem. Ultimately we’re going to wait until the routes have been allocated. We’ll have no problems acquiring the aircraft, but it won’t be part of the current fleet – the A330s are allocated.”
But Tim Bye adds: “We’re not going to fall into the trap of acquiring aircraft before we have the ability to fly.”
He says that it makes sense to have “some aircraft at Manchester, but the bulk at Heathrow”, and notes that if successful the London Heathrow operation would be “inevitably bigger than Manchester”.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news