EAST MIDLANDS - 4

[paul atkins]

Thomsonfly-sofia

a new ski route to start in december from the 22nd weekly flight to sofia

[UPS@EMA]

Glad of the new route from Thomson.
How is the pier coming along, should be nearing completion shouldnt it?

Regards

Stu

[bmibaby.com]

The new pier is supposed to open at the beginning of May, so we've got just under a month to go before it's officially opened. Otherwise work around the terminal seems to be really coming along, new central search area opened at the end of last week along with the arrivals building with the new information desk.
Hopefully some news on bmibaby's expansion plans over the next few weeks, it changes from day to day!

[Flyboy543]

They better pull their finger out if they've only got a month to complete it! There's still windows to put in on the walkway before they can start to complete the inside! Lets hope they finish on time.

[EMA01]

bmibaby have just announced a new route from Cardiff and East Midlands to Ibiza. Finally... There will still only be 5 aircraft based however and looking at the timetables will work out nicely for the Paris flight which arrives in at 19:40 and then didnt do anything for the rest of the day! well done bmi!!

-bmibaby, has today (4th April 2007) announced the launch of a new three times a week service to the Balearic Island of Ibiza from East Midlands Airport and two times a week service from Cardiff International Airport. Flights from East Midlands start on 30th June 2007 and continue until 9th September 2007 and flights from Cardiff start on 16th July and continue until 7th September 2007. The new Ibiza route brings the total number of destinations served by bmibaby at East Midlands to 13 and also at Cardiff to 13.

-Flights from East Midlands - Mondays and Thursdays and Saturdays

Atleast we are getting some expansion from them!

EMA01

[bmibaby.com]

Interesting move considering that Thomsonfly and easyJet have both moved into this market from East Midlands, but it wasn't too bad a route in the past. Good to see that bmibaby are understanding the importance of better utilisation of aircraft, though now both Balearic flights are landing in the wee hours into EMA.

[paul atkins]

thomsonfly are now operating 5 flights a week in peak season to ibiza i just hope that there is enough demand and that baby have not lost out being the last to launch

[bmibaby.com]

I'm not suggesting they change the schedule, but just am interested that our Balearic programme now involves flights landing in the very early hours of the morning. In the past bmibaby hasn't had a 24 hour ground handling operation, which is one of the reasons that the company doesn't handle the bmi charter flights, but with some changing getting managers and dispatch to do nights, perhaps they wanted to better utilise the night shift by giving them a lovely IBZ!

[bmibaby.com]

We have our own ground staff, excluding ramp, at East Midlands, at CWL we are handled by aviance. In the past bmibaby has not been a 24 hour base though this looks set to change. I've heard that Ibiza could be the first of a few new routes from EMA to be launched over the next few months.

[EMA01]

In the next months just for bmibaby or for all the operators??

EMA01

[bmibaby.com]

For bmibaby, though I'm sure that other airlines, particularly Ryanair, will be keen to look at East Midlands for further expansion. As ever we could spend hours hmming and haaing about where these new routes or how many they might be, but I think it's just a sit tight moment.

[EMA01]

Thats good news. They could do with expanding at EMA again. They did have 7-9 Aircraft there at one point. Would be great if they could do that again. I would like them to start to Mahon and Dusseldorf the most... Needed routes!!

EMA01

[bmibaby.com]

Mahon is already served by a number of the charter airlines from EMA who sell seats directly through their website under a scheduled guise, plus Monarch Scheduled are up the road at BHX. Routes like MAH are notoriously seasonal and low-yielding, presumably much like Ibiza but I presume IBZ has more mass appeal, so I can't see this being the kind of money spinner that bmibaby should be focusing on. DUS is slot constrained (the only reason Air Berlin apparently bought LTU was for DUS slots), and last time I checked was in Germany - so well off limits at least whilst the ECA is still operational. I think the new routes are more likely to be in markets already served by the bmi group, but standardising on bases.

[EMA01]

There is always something to stop an airline. Its a shame because I think Dusseldorf will be a very popular route from EMA.. Maybe in the Future!

EMA01

[airhumberside]

last time I checked was in Germany - so well off limits at least whilst the ECA is still operational.

bmi baby have served MUC before though haven't they?

[EMA01]

Yes bmibaby did fly to Murica from East Midlands 2 years ago. There was a flight on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday I think but then they reduced it to a Saturday before stopping it

EMA01

[FlyboyUK]

MUC is Munich

Murcia is MJV

[bmibaby.com]

Murcia, like Dublin and Barcelona, were quickly dropped following Ryanair's introduction on these routes. Munich was served for the very first winter schedule we had, but was quickly and quietly dropped, allegedly because of Lufthansa influence who have their own Munich service from up the road at BHX. For that first winter, I remember that Copenhagen had been displayed on the website, though presumably little interest or SAS put a stop to that.

[Little Blue]

Bah....the later that Baby flying finishes, the more work for me !!!
Go baby, onwards and upwards !!

[finding_nema]

With the exception of the pier, have all of the terminal renovations now been completed? I noticed the new central search is now open, considering they have moved the entrance so far forward, right next to Caffe Ritazza, how are the queues moving? Are there long queues forming from where the passport and boarding cards are supposed to be checked?