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Old 1st Jun 2012, 13:41
  #220 (permalink)  
The Cleaner
 
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This copied from another forum. from the MD of BMi

Following my update to you on 10 May regarding the sale of bmi Regional, the deal between IAG and Sector Aviation Holdings Ltd to sell bmi Regional has been completed today.

The ownership of bmi Regional has now transferred to Sector Aviation Holdings Ltd (SAH) and from 1 June 2012, bmi Regional will no longer be part of the bmi group. I thank the bmi Regional team for their hard work, patience and commitment to the business and wish them well for the future.

We will provide elements of support to bmi Regional for an agreed period of time, yet please be mindful that bmi Regional is now a competitor and should be treated as such. If you are required to maintain a working relationship with bmi Regional, your manager will provide advice on how to conduct business going forward.

I realise that staff in both companies have worked side by side for many years, and for some of you, you will continue to come into regular contact with bmi Regional staff within the business environment or socially. Please just keep in mind that business matters should not be discussed.

For customers, the change of ownership will have no visible impact. The airline will continue to use the same airport locations and facilities and its summer schedule remains as planned. The bmi Regional logo and branding, the current aircraft liveries, BD and 236 airline codes will all continue until 27 October 2012.

Members of bmi’s Diamond Club will also see no immediate changes and will continue to earn and redeem miles, book reward flights and enjoy status benefits on all bmi Regional flights.

In the absence of its own website and booking functions, bmi Regional will continue to utilise flybmi.com to enable its customers to book and service their flights until 27 October. bmi’s call centres will also provide support until October.

The five Embraer aircraft currently wetleased to bmi mainline will continue to fly for us during the Summer timetable as planned. This agreement will cease at the end of the summer timetable and the aircraft will return to bmi Regional.

For bmi mainline, good progress is being made in all areas to integrate the airline into British Airways before the end of the summer timetable. The first group of routes transferred on 23 May and now operate as BA flights. These nine routes still operate into Heathrow Terminal 1 and with the same schedules, they just have BA flight numbers. Over time all mainline aircraft will also start to take on the BA style inside and out. The first bmi A319 to undergo rebranding took to the skies on 28 May in its new Olympic Dove livery.

Regarding bmibaby, following the start of the consultation process, which began on 3 May 2012, proposals have been reviewed regarding future options for bmibaby. After in-depth analysis of the different options, we can confirm that we will now be working to the proposal to close the business on 10 September 2012.

Please note that even at this very late stage, if a new and credible offer was received to acquire the bmibaby business, either in whole or part, IAG would readily enter discussions. However, we do not realistically anticipate this happening. In the meantime, consultation with union and employee representatives continues.

Following the changes to the flying programme announced earlier this month, the bmibaby team worked tirelessly to make sure customers affected by flight changes were refunded quickly and within seven days of the announcement. An advertising campaign was launched last weekend in the Midlands to serve as a reminder that bmibaby continue to fly and customers can still book flights for the summer with confidence.

I recognise that it remains a difficult time for staff at bmibaby and bmi mainline, yet I remain impressed with your professionalism in managing the day to day business and continuing to deliver an excellent service to our customers.

I will continue to keep you up to date with any developments and share information with you

Thank you for your continuing support.

Peter
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