BMI
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: England.
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Very sad news. All the best to those who end up on the dole.
It wouldn't be quite as bad of you knew all the layabouts and incompetents were going. Sadly, in bmi, lots of good people at the grass roots seem to attract an unfair share of the misery. Post 9/11 kneejerk redundancies was a classic example - invaluable talent dumped and useless, lazy drips retained and even promoted. The knock on effect on those struggling to patch all the gaps is horrendous. The added cost of the shambles must have exceeded the savings from redundancies.
Just hope superior Lufthansa management will be the key to a recovery. They really do need to learn what a nasty culture there is in bmi, no doubt spread from the attitude of those at the top. It's all down to a minority of nasty people who often lick their way into management, rather than get there through ability. If they eradicate the nasty element (and now is a good opportunity to dump all the b******s) they'll be a long way towards improving morale and sorting it out.
It wouldn't be quite as bad of you knew all the layabouts and incompetents were going. Sadly, in bmi, lots of good people at the grass roots seem to attract an unfair share of the misery. Post 9/11 kneejerk redundancies was a classic example - invaluable talent dumped and useless, lazy drips retained and even promoted. The knock on effect on those struggling to patch all the gaps is horrendous. The added cost of the shambles must have exceeded the savings from redundancies.
Just hope superior Lufthansa management will be the key to a recovery. They really do need to learn what a nasty culture there is in bmi, no doubt spread from the attitude of those at the top. It's all down to a minority of nasty people who often lick their way into management, rather than get there through ability. If they eradicate the nasty element (and now is a good opportunity to dump all the b******s) they'll be a long way towards improving morale and sorting it out.
e28 driver
Join Date: Jan 2002
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DF is already in action playing his games of deceit. Isn't it curious how twisted people like him gravitate towards positions where they have so much power over peoples destinys.
Join Date: Jan 2006
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'Must say all the Belfast staff are always extremely helpful but are clearly restricted by decisions taken out of their hands.'
I couldn't agree more with EGAC is better, because most of us at Belfast,ground staff and cabin crew, do go out of our way to provide a good customer service, which was drilled into us when we first joined British Midland. We are all very relieved that at this stage there will be no redunancies at Belfast.
I would also agree that the company needs to improve its Business Class service, with the fixed business configuration on DO , being very popular amongst the regular travellers. Meal services need to be changed with the hot bits and sandwiches not being served in those cheap looking boxes. I hope the airline will bring back the memories of afternoon tea with scones and devon clotted cream with strawberry jam on the BD089 are long gone!!
The latest 'Better for Business' campaign, looks excellent on paper and I am sure it will be very appealling when fully implemented accross the bases.
Good luck to all my fellow employees who are affected by Wednesday's announcment.
I couldn't agree more with EGAC is better, because most of us at Belfast,ground staff and cabin crew, do go out of our way to provide a good customer service, which was drilled into us when we first joined British Midland. We are all very relieved that at this stage there will be no redunancies at Belfast.
I would also agree that the company needs to improve its Business Class service, with the fixed business configuration on DO , being very popular amongst the regular travellers. Meal services need to be changed with the hot bits and sandwiches not being served in those cheap looking boxes. I hope the airline will bring back the memories of afternoon tea with scones and devon clotted cream with strawberry jam on the BD089 are long gone!!
The latest 'Better for Business' campaign, looks excellent on paper and I am sure it will be very appealling when fully implemented accross the bases.
Good luck to all my fellow employees who are affected by Wednesday's announcment.
Join Date: Dec 2008
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DF always reminded me of Peter Mandelson...and that really is NOT a compliment.
If HR/Personnel behave as they did during the last round of baby redundancies, then I fear you are all in for a horrible ride.
Compassion is a word not often used in the deep recesses of HR.
Good luck everyone......and let's hope that the good ones stay.
If HR/Personnel behave as they did during the last round of baby redundancies, then I fear you are all in for a horrible ride.
Compassion is a word not often used in the deep recesses of HR.
Good luck everyone......and let's hope that the good ones stay.
Join Date: Dec 2008
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I hope the airline will bring back the memories of afternoon tea with scones and devon clotted cream with strawberry jam on the BD089 are long gone!!
Join Date: Aug 2006
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Just got my letter this morning - 79 Capt , 50 FO , a number of engineering staff, 105 c/c, 79 flight sup's, 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cspm's / c/c managers . oh and no senior managers jobs are on the line - funny that.
there will be more "managers and office rats than actual operational "can touch the plane" staff. WTF
there will be more "managers and office rats than actual operational "can touch the plane" staff. WTF
Join Date: Feb 2001
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A sad day for all involved.
The only positive for crews that remain is at last someone is taking the bull by the horns and doing something, everyone knew it could not go on and had action been taken earlier then perhaps it wouldn't have been so painful now?
This is a business that is burning through £3m a week, LH have pledged £95m in support, i have no doubt that slot swap with other LH companies will be part of this Swiss/SN GVA/BRU and others will follow.
The whole management team will be under review and many will go in the coming months as and when back office functions move/merge. The total job losses across the group (inc baby) will be North of a 1000 before this over.
Reading the various posts it seems that the (high) cost of some aircraft/engine leases are a factor in many of the cuts at both mainline and baby, whether this is because they have had to do back to back deals because of poor credit risk or some other reason i don't know, but unless your paying no more than the going rate you have no chance of making money, i would guess that deals from here on will be more favourable.
Good luck to all
The only positive for crews that remain is at last someone is taking the bull by the horns and doing something, everyone knew it could not go on and had action been taken earlier then perhaps it wouldn't have been so painful now?
This is a business that is burning through £3m a week, LH have pledged £95m in support, i have no doubt that slot swap with other LH companies will be part of this Swiss/SN GVA/BRU and others will follow.
The whole management team will be under review and many will go in the coming months as and when back office functions move/merge. The total job losses across the group (inc baby) will be North of a 1000 before this over.
Reading the various posts it seems that the (high) cost of some aircraft/engine leases are a factor in many of the cuts at both mainline and baby, whether this is because they have had to do back to back deals because of poor credit risk or some other reason i don't know, but unless your paying no more than the going rate you have no chance of making money, i would guess that deals from here on will be more favourable.
Good luck to all
Join Date: Nov 2000
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As acbus1 so succinctly paraphrased the situation - a nasty culture spread from the top down.
Couple that with incompetent management specialising in window dressing, smoke and mirrors and constant change to wrong foot the workforce and you have a recipe for disaster made in heaven!
How many remember the fiasco over the IAE engines and entry door at 2L on the Airbus to allow boarding "left and right" ? Pity the engine nacelle is too long for an airbridge or stairs at 2L.
How any remember the 3 class 330s, F,C and Y being ordered when everyone else was downsizing premium? Shame they had to go straight back after acceptance for a cabin re-config.
Asked by the MD of MAG at a meeting about where I got my market research figures from: " So long as bmi are building up a route, just to pull of it, I have my free market research consultants".
Too many fingers in too many pies and not good enough at anything to create a niche or dominant product: short haul,medium haul, long haul, charter, low cost, regional and none of it due to the workers.
Poor little lambs who lost their way.
Form ITbusiness edge.com:
Couple that with incompetent management specialising in window dressing, smoke and mirrors and constant change to wrong foot the workforce and you have a recipe for disaster made in heaven!
How many remember the fiasco over the IAE engines and entry door at 2L on the Airbus to allow boarding "left and right" ? Pity the engine nacelle is too long for an airbridge or stairs at 2L.
How any remember the 3 class 330s, F,C and Y being ordered when everyone else was downsizing premium? Shame they had to go straight back after acceptance for a cabin re-config.
Asked by the MD of MAG at a meeting about where I got my market research figures from: " So long as bmi are building up a route, just to pull of it, I have my free market research consultants".
Too many fingers in too many pies and not good enough at anything to create a niche or dominant product: short haul,medium haul, long haul, charter, low cost, regional and none of it due to the workers.
Poor little lambs who lost their way.
Form ITbusiness edge.com:
Layoffs: The Last Resort of Incompetent Management
In a normal market, and this clearly isn't a normal market, a company doing a layoff is admitting that its management was incapable of building a working team and has chosen to go back to the drawing board. But a layoff isn't surgical. It is catastrophic. It would be like using a saw to cut off major portions of a race car in order to keep it in the race; the result won't win but maybe it will finish. But if the goal is to win, and generally that is the goal of any management team, the saw approach is clearly an additional problem to overcome. Looking back at the result of layoffs generally confirms the opinion that the promised benefits are seldom realized.
A company is a team, and a team is a complex structure. There are dependencies among members, among groups, and even among companies. If the firm is well run and hits an economic problem, the result should be a surgical approach that alters the makeup of the company to address that problem. The goal, however, is to ensure that the management response doesn't do more damage than the economic problem did. This is a goal that I think many companies forget in doing a layoff. Some argue that this is because CEOs intentionally ignore the negative results. Myopic CEOs generally don't lead successful companies.
In a normal market, and this clearly isn't a normal market, a company doing a layoff is admitting that its management was incapable of building a working team and has chosen to go back to the drawing board. But a layoff isn't surgical. It is catastrophic. It would be like using a saw to cut off major portions of a race car in order to keep it in the race; the result won't win but maybe it will finish. But if the goal is to win, and generally that is the goal of any management team, the saw approach is clearly an additional problem to overcome. Looking back at the result of layoffs generally confirms the opinion that the promised benefits are seldom realized.
A company is a team, and a team is a complex structure. There are dependencies among members, among groups, and even among companies. If the firm is well run and hits an economic problem, the result should be a surgical approach that alters the makeup of the company to address that problem. The goal, however, is to ensure that the management response doesn't do more damage than the economic problem did. This is a goal that I think many companies forget in doing a layoff. Some argue that this is because CEOs intentionally ignore the negative results. Myopic CEOs generally don't lead successful companies.
This company has been abominably managed for a good number of years now.
The key issue is not moving with the times, not understanding the changing market fast enough and no focus or strategy.
I remember the re-brand video from 1996 where the top brass were patting themselves on the back for bringing in business classs (complete with full meal service and £350 rtn tickets) for 35 minute domestic flights. This at exactly the time Easyjet, Go and Ryanair were busy launching low cost routes. Talk about misreading the market!!
Since then they have dabbled in literally hundreds of different markets, but not doing anything well.
And what are they? Full service? Low Cost? Regional? Charter? Scheduled? Short Haul? Long Haul? Or just a melee of everything?
There is no secret in the fact that the likes of easyjet are so successful because of their focussed model using a single type of aircraft on specific markets which fit that aircraft type.
Think if all the routes easyJet, Flybe and Ryanair operate within and out of the UK and there is your oportunity missed! Instead BMI just had to be yet another another carrier on the Trans-Atlantic market - for what purpose god alone knows.
It is tragic!
The key issue is not moving with the times, not understanding the changing market fast enough and no focus or strategy.
I remember the re-brand video from 1996 where the top brass were patting themselves on the back for bringing in business classs (complete with full meal service and £350 rtn tickets) for 35 minute domestic flights. This at exactly the time Easyjet, Go and Ryanair were busy launching low cost routes. Talk about misreading the market!!
Since then they have dabbled in literally hundreds of different markets, but not doing anything well.
And what are they? Full service? Low Cost? Regional? Charter? Scheduled? Short Haul? Long Haul? Or just a melee of everything?
There is no secret in the fact that the likes of easyjet are so successful because of their focussed model using a single type of aircraft on specific markets which fit that aircraft type.
Think if all the routes easyJet, Flybe and Ryanair operate within and out of the UK and there is your oportunity missed! Instead BMI just had to be yet another another carrier on the Trans-Atlantic market - for what purpose god alone knows.
It is tragic!
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
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A lot of the comments have been worth hearing. About the days of the full DC9s on the domestics, the Diamond service and the grateful passengers. All true, however that business model involves charging fares that no one is going to pay these days. The market to London is much bigger, there is major loco competition from easyJet and Ryanair who offer "much cheapness" and a still powerful BA who offer "quality" and of course connectivity and backup when things go wrong.
bmi has failed to differentiate itself from any of these. They built their reputation on supplying service that was way better than a nationalised BA. The last few years of routes chopping and changing, buying a whole route structure from BMED, closing the accidentally set up MAN long haul operation and buy on board have driven me away from bmi.
They CANNOT go back to a full service British Midland, they cannot go on as they are, they cannot cut back any more without driving even more people away. The return of Swiss to the old Swissair routes and the return of SN Brussels to the old Sabena routes tell us where Lufthansa sees STAR at Heathrow going. I think the real tragedy is that the world moved on and left bmi behind.
bmi has failed to differentiate itself from any of these. They built their reputation on supplying service that was way better than a nationalised BA. The last few years of routes chopping and changing, buying a whole route structure from BMED, closing the accidentally set up MAN long haul operation and buy on board have driven me away from bmi.
They CANNOT go back to a full service British Midland, they cannot go on as they are, they cannot cut back any more without driving even more people away. The return of Swiss to the old Swissair routes and the return of SN Brussels to the old Sabena routes tell us where Lufthansa sees STAR at Heathrow going. I think the real tragedy is that the world moved on and left bmi behind.
The mistake they made was investing heavily in a business product which the market was moving away from and downgrading the excellent Diamond Service as well as having their finger in too many pies and doing nothing particularly successfully.
Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing but I think they should have done the following in the late 1990s:
LHR Product
1) Rationalise LHR fleet into single type - A319 ideal
2) Stay one class
3) Transform into a Jetblue style product at LHR keeping Diamond service but with the frills paid for by budget ticket holders
4) Provide a "business" upgrade allowing an improved ground product (check in and lounge access and FFP) and free food on board (maybe £5 allowance)
5) Not join Star but allow interlining with all carriers
6) Operate to niche destinations that BA do not serve, as well as trunk routes
7) Negotiate take-over of some domestic routes from BA allowing them to focus more on L/Haul
8) Forget Long Haul aspirations
Regional Product
1) BMI Baby brand split into Business and Leisure Routes
2) Dash 8-400 for Business routes
3) A319 for leisure routes
4) 3-4 bases with 6-8 aircraft per base
5) Business product like LHR; Leisure more like current BMI Baby
6) If routes don't fit the profile of the two aircraft types don't operate them!
They could have stolen a 3-4 year march on Flybe in many markets and had a very neat business with 50-60 aircraft (of which 12 or so DH4) that could have been significantly rationalised with the simple business model.
Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing but I think they should have done the following in the late 1990s:
LHR Product
1) Rationalise LHR fleet into single type - A319 ideal
2) Stay one class
3) Transform into a Jetblue style product at LHR keeping Diamond service but with the frills paid for by budget ticket holders
4) Provide a "business" upgrade allowing an improved ground product (check in and lounge access and FFP) and free food on board (maybe £5 allowance)
5) Not join Star but allow interlining with all carriers
6) Operate to niche destinations that BA do not serve, as well as trunk routes
7) Negotiate take-over of some domestic routes from BA allowing them to focus more on L/Haul
8) Forget Long Haul aspirations
Regional Product
1) BMI Baby brand split into Business and Leisure Routes
2) Dash 8-400 for Business routes
3) A319 for leisure routes
4) 3-4 bases with 6-8 aircraft per base
5) Business product like LHR; Leisure more like current BMI Baby
6) If routes don't fit the profile of the two aircraft types don't operate them!
They could have stolen a 3-4 year march on Flybe in many markets and had a very neat business with 50-60 aircraft (of which 12 or so DH4) that could have been significantly rationalised with the simple business model.
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Was there anything in the letter about the FS pension scheme? Reports in the media of it closing to existing members, but as yet us members no longer employed by bmi have heard nothing (I don't for one minute think we are a priority, btw).
The FS scheme will close next March at the latest, the escaltion of your frozen pension (for inflation) will be as per the pension scheme rules in the booklet, the company will continue to pay in to the scheme to reduce the deficit.
At least that is what my letter I got this morning seems to say
At least that is what my letter I got this morning seems to say
Join Date: Aug 2008
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90027, I assume this info will be communicated in due course. I am gutted as I recently moved up to Flight sup, yet if I had remained main cabin crew, then I would rates my chances of staying higher, due to the disproportionately high number of flight sups being given the chop.