BMI

[Doors to Automatic]

Well first it needs some kind of strategy. Someone needs to say where they want to be in say 3 or 5 years from now. It also needs to decide what it's position in the market is and what its proposition to the travelling public should be.

My gut feel is that it should position itself as a value-for-money budget carrier (like Jetblue) rather than a no frills LCC like Ryanair.

I would then carry out a product and fleet rationalisation involving all business units to bring them under one roof.

A consistant product would be offered across the network with the only difference being a slightly better offering on LHR services. Effectively a back-to-basics strategy to go back to the days of Diamond Sservice which was responsible for making the airline the success that it was in the 1980s and 90s - but re-aligned to today's market requirements

LHR services would attract a fare premium. (To me it is ludicrous that it costs £20 to get to Paddington, £60 for a taxi to London and £30 to park your car but that you can fly to ABZ for as little as £20.) But would still be in a reasonable range.

I would have a premium cabin in each aircraft which can be expanded and contracted using a curtain but no difference in seating. Meal service would be enchanced and lounge access included and it would be offered to all pax on Full Y tickets as well as on any economy fare with a plus up of £50-70 per sector depending on length.

I would cut back on frequency at LHR serving trunk routes to 4-5 flights per day and use the spare slots to fly to places which are not served from LHR at present and do not enjoy good connectivity (e.g. Dundee, Maastrict, Bordeaux). These routes will enjoy higher yield than the 7th or 8th rotation on trunk routes plus good connecting potential.

The fleet would be rationalised to a mix of 70 seat turboprops (DH4), 110 seat ERJ190s, 140 seat A319s and 170 seat A320s giving a wide range of capacity that can be switched around the network as required.


How's that as a starter for 10?