I fly for BMED, just back from a 5 day Addis, had a ball! It is true, some of the destinations are a bit off the beaten track, but in my eyes, they are far more fascinating and adventurous than the regular long haul routes. It has taken me a year to settle into BMED, there is more of a grown-up atmosphere, but there is also an emphasis on enjoying your work and having fun down-route.
bmi have openly said that they want to expand into the medium haul market, and have been looking at Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Cairo in particular. It would seem that the aquitsition of BMED will give bmi a ready made network, with some tweaking inevitable.
One thing is for sure, nothing will change in the immediate future, and the fact that bmi is getting rid of their 321s is likely to have little baring on BMEDs long-haul configured 321s.
I have to be honest, most people at BMED want to keep flying the routes that we fly, so if there is a large portion of bmi staff that don't like the sound of what might be on offer, there will be more than enough willing from this end.
Regards
Mike