bmi granted Indian route

[Red 69]

bmi today granted 4 weekly services to Mumbai

Link here... http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/abou...r=2004&rid=547

BA granted 7 of the available 21 routes and Virgin 10

[Eurekadelta]

Did Virgin & BA get anything?

[fadec_primary_channel]

yes try this link

CAA Decision full document PDF

[Goodness Gracious Me]

More info from the FT:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/9e5faffe-45...00e2511c8.html

Basically, BA were given 4 weekly services to Chennai (Madras) and 3 weekly to Bangalore, Virgin got 7 weekly to Delhi and 3 weekly to Mumbai, while bmi got 4 weekly to Mumbai.

Running totals:-
BA - 26 a week
Virgin - 10
bmi - 4

[MarkD]

hm. If VS and bmi codeshared that would make it daily wouldn't it

cue the merger rumours!

[Max Angle]

Ours and the three VS slots would indeed make a daily, very interesting. From our point of view 4 days a week, though a welcome breakthrough, is not very good news. The problem is what to do with the a/c on the other 3 days, another route would be fine but if it's not out of LHR it becomes a bit of a nightmare, I think the company would have preferred nothing or 6-7 days a week but feels it can't turn the 4 down as it's been asking for longhaul out of LHR for so long.

[AlanSinfield]

Does that mean BMI will need to source another Long-haul Aircraft eg. Airbus 330/340, or will they reduced the flight program from Manchester

[Bagso]

BMI need more aircraft Ex Manchester ...NOT less...

All services Ex MAN are booming !

[lexxity]

Does that mean BMI will need to source another Long-haul Aircraft eg. Airbus 330/340, or will they reduced the flight program from Manchester

It'll be a 340, i can't imagine they would drop routes fom MAN they are way too busy, the guessing game should be what are they going to do with the spare non-operating days? Let the guessing begin.......

[Max Angle]

It'll be a 340,

Question is, will it have a red tail and be flown by VS crews using a bmi callsign on the days we do it and a VS callsign on the days they do it?.

[5415N]

or what about a BMI callsign and BA colours

[Young Paul]

I'd heard that the bmi management were really keen to get a bmi widebody into LHR. I'm not sure the specification for the routes was for LHR - just for UK to India - but bmi in their press release were quick to say that this was an opportunity from LHR.

bmi got 4 of the 14 they bid for - 28%.

Virgin got 10 of the 21 they bid for - 47%.

BA got 7 of the 21 they bid for - 33%.

Guess who's making the most noise about appealing? (Hint - list the above percentages in reverse order)

[EastMids]

Sir Richard Branson said: "We will launch our new three times a week service to and from Mumbai from 1 February (subject to Indian Government approval under their Open Skies deal). This simply isn't enough - BA utterly dominates, carrying 75% of First and Business class passengers flying directly between the UK and India, and it needs competition on Mumbai on a daily basis from a world-class long haul airline with world-class products and services."

How arrogant - bmi is a world-class airline too, and between VS and BD there will be daily competition for BA. If VS are indeed appealing the Mumbai decision as suggested here, then I sincerely hope that the CAA say to Virgin that if they can't operate viably three days a week then they'll give all seven Mumbai frequencies to BMI.

Andy

[Busta Level]

I sincerely hope that the CAA say to Virgin that if they can't operate viably three days a week then they'll give all seven Mumbai frequencies to BMI.

Yeah Right Time to realise there is a world outside of the biased and blinkered Toad Hall/management wannabe world which you and young paul inhabit - one in which reality exists....

Come to LHR for a few days and experience the reality of the bmi commercial airline operation. The fact is that there are not the resources in place to operate the new routes effectively and profitably. Let alone the aircraft required - unless we drop the LAS/Caribbean routes... Shock horror - bmi drop a route after 6 months? Surely not...(see Barcelona, IAD, etc etc)

How can we afford to buy any new aircraft (340's HA!) when we have lost £9 million every year since the 1990's, and if we have a 1.5% pay increase the airline will go under?!

Farcical.

However much a few new routes 3 days a week may be trumpeted internally, externally it is nothing. Try going to the USA in uniform and answering the question 'Gee, which airline do you guys work for?'

'bmi'

'who?'

'british midland'

'Oh british airways'

'OK, yes'

Try the same, replacing bmi with BA or Virgin and see the difference in response.

Our marketing is cr@p, and bmi will never be a world class airline (Airline for Scotland, maybe) full stop. To achieve that one needs more than a few 330's. After all, bmi/Midland has been about in one form or another for 60 years plus, and has tried longhaul before (707's) whereas Virgin (and the new BOAC) have been around for a much shorter time, but have achieved much more.

SMB will retire in the next few years and flog the operation to Lufty or someone else, we'll all be looking for work, and you and young paul will be bemoaning the fact that you have been betrayed...

Take off the blinkers, please, and stop bugging all of us in the real world.

[RoyHudd]

What about jobs?

Any prospect of Airbus-rated recruits for LHR with this new route? This might afford some of the previous people who were let go post 9/11 to rejoin bmi....should they so wish!

[EastMids]

Busta Level,

So bitter eh? Shame. For your information, I am neither an inmate of Toad Hall nor a management wannabe. I am actually one of bmi's paying customers - paying to travel with them regularly both intra-Europe AND long haul to the US (which I've used some five times this year). I actually go out of my way to fly bmi for one reason alone - bmi is better than BA or Virgin. Try United business class to the US for example, and then you'll see what a great product bmi offers up front on the A330. World class? Yes, within its own sphere of operations it is. If bmi's operational and expansion plans don't quite fit within your interpretation of what the airline should be or how it should do it, then so be it. bmi deserves a break on the India ops, and I hope it eventually gets all seven frequencies - I'm sure it'll make a damned good showing from it. Despite your disparaging attitude, some of us will continue to spend money with bmi because we think its a good airline that deserves more than it gets.

[Young Paul]

For what it's worth, I too am not an inmate of DH or a management wanabee.

[no, no, no]

a few comments suggest that bmi and Virgin will have a daily between them to compete with BA - but isn't that assuming that bmi and Virgin will not choose to operate on the same days as each other - for part if not all the week?????? after all if there are stronger days (do they even exist on a LHR-BOM route???) wouldn't they both want them?? I suppose it depends on what traffic they're trying to get - if it's business I guess more weekdays, but if leisure more weekend?????

[pollypocket36]

Comparing bmi to other airlines such as VS and BA is simply wrong. I've flown all three business and BA wins by far. I will say that bmi are the worst. The seats are crap! Cradle seats!!!! The service is good but other than that, it's not got much else. Both BA and VS has beds and the services are rather good too. No offence to bmi but they have a long way to reach the standard of BA or VS. They both offer so much more from booking your ticket to arriving back.

[Airbus215]

Polly pocket.....

There speaks a bitter EX bmi crew member .....

Remember that theres a lot more to bmi long haul offered to FARE PAYING pax than that offered to staff on freebies .

bmi long haul isnt perfect but it has recieved awards ....

Maybe you werent SUITABLE for long haul ....

Get over your bitterness to your ex employer.

And no im not bmi crew !