BMED - High-yield, protected city routes with limited competition. Cash cow. Go for it!
It may have been true once, but less so as time goes on............
Once upon a time our only competetion would have been the local lot flying a Yak/Tupolev etc...
Nowadays, even the locals have modern equipment and we have western competition from our own Star Alliance colleagues e.g. Lufty.
Ok, admittedly not from LHR, but a large chunk of our business, (and the reason we are/were a BA franchise) is that we continue the journey for transatlantic pax. If your journey starts in USA/Canada you really don't care if you change at London/Paris/Amsterdam/Frankfurt............ Who's going to give you the best service?
The Caspian oil field has given great business over the last 5 years or so, but the pipeline is now complete and Baku is changing..... However, there are other oil/gas fields emerging though so it really needs a marketing team who have got their eye on the ball to meet demand as it develops and get in ahead of the competition. Ditto Africa.
We were a profitable Company not too long ago. But, focus and strategy got sloppy in an extremely volatile market. New management came in a year ago and a broom was swept through a lot of the upper levels to great effect. But unfortunately, a weak company, hit with a double whammy of its sure fire winner (Beriut) plunged into war and the fuel crisis, took us to the brink.
If the wheels are to be believed, they reckon we have a cost base comparable to Easy and Ryan and that's what the BMI Board found attractive (amongst other things).
So, whilst I'm grateful to BMI for my job, I believe it's a two way street. We can certainly bring something to the table and I for one, am looking forward to the challenge.
I don't know how the integration of crews (if any) will happen, but I would suggest that you cast aside any pre-conceived ideas you have about our destinations if you come our way! There are challenges but you WILL have a good time
