I only heard that it was going to be one current baby base that was going to go back to mainline, so naturally assumed it would be Manchester. Main reason is that unlike almost all of the Star Alliance no-frills subsidiaries, bmibaby does not allow through check-in to mainline flights. If bmi wants to make Manchester a serious base, then it needs to find its marketplace, and having two brands offering a handful of routes each is confusing to Joe Public.
My only other guess, which I must say sounds a lot better, would be Nottingham East Midlands. Over the last year we've seen Brussels & Paris Charles de Gaulle go back to mainline (well, regional) and I wouldn't be surprised if other business routes that also have a fair amount of leisure traffic - like Amsterdam - also end up going back to bmi. With a full-service operation, bmi might have a competitive advantage over the other airlines at EMA, and it would be great if we had a hub carrier from Star come in too. Bring on Lufthansa ...
