bmi may be haemorraging money but when people talk about it being a basket case that even Lufthansa could not turn around, you need to know some facts.
Lufthansa has done very little in the 3 years. A point that is very sore for those of us working at bmi. We all thought Lufthansa would be the saviour after years of squander and minimal investment under the previous private owner. Yes Lufthansa have been covering the losses, yes they have put some money in terms of convertible loans and some cabin fit outs but not much more.
bmi mainline are carrying an enormous load with the costs of a remote head office and staff. Some of the staff sometimes haven't got a clue how to do their jobs ("Heathrow's 2nd favourite airline" advertising etc and we would give our eye teeth to get Branson's spin merchants). The despair and uselessness of certain departments is absolutely unbelieveable.
So when Lufthansa arrived we thought it would be a massive clean out and update of the archaic methods employed to do just about everything. Alas this was not to be the case. So for those that think that Lufthansa couldn't make a go of it, please think again. Lufthansa's heart was never really in it as far as most of the staff are concerned.