I may have missed the detail of this but will the airline maintain the name indefinately. I.e bmi? My original understanding was prior to the completion of the sale was that it would have to change eventually.
My interest will be what will the airlines strategy be.
Will they maintain the existing network, which looks like operations from Aberdeen, Manchester, Leeds/Bradford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, East Midlands and Norwich in the UK.
The network is made up of what looks like 15 routes including:
- Aberdeen- Esbjerg
- Aberdeen- Groningen
- Aberdeen- Manchester
- Aberdeen- Norwcih
- Manchester- Lyon
- Manchester-Edinburgh
- Leeeds/Bradford- Glasgow
- Leeds/Bradford- Edinburgh
- Leeds/Bradford- Brussels
- Glasgow-Copenhagen
- Edinburgh- Copenhagen
- Edinburgh- Zurich
- Edinburgh- Brussels
- East Midlands- Brussels
- East Midlands- Frankfurt
In addition, there are 3 routes that operate to/from LHR and it would seem logical that these routes will disappear when the integration is completed:
- Heathrow- Aberdeen
- Heathrow- Hannover
- Heathrow- Manchester
This begs the question, will bmi regional be aiming to gain the rights to operate Heathrow- Edinburgh and Aberdeen, if they do this could form large part of their operation.
My question would be what size, shape and direction would the airline pursue given that the existing network (excluding the 3 LHR routes) is made up of 15 routes, 10 international, 5 domestic.
It feels like they should be pursuing a strategy of niche routes, like the thinner routes to say FRA, BRU, ZRH, CPH, Scandinavinan destinations. Though would they be better served operating in a franchise model such as Flybe or even serving BRU or FRA from all over the UK with SN or LH affiliation?
Otherwise my feeling is that they will go after ad hoc charter and leasing contract work somewhat like Titan.
What does anybody else think? Flybe would seem to be the most obvious threat to the existing network so my feeling is some sort of co-operation with them would seem like a logical approach, and given that the investors have Loganair connections, this would suggest that there would be a conflict of interest so why would they go head to head?
EI-BUD