BMI
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Stockport
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BMI vs BA
I remember a few years ago BMI having a great little hub at MAN. However BMI 'management' decided that the future was to desert the regional base and go head to head with BA at LHR. Utter stupidity in my view and business suffered. I think that when Lufthansa eventualy took over the business it was clear that they were going to run BMI in to the ground such that they wouldnt provide any serious competition. LH would never have given up their regional bases so easily. In my view another example of a great UK company being run into the ground and jobs lost for a quick buck!
Join Date: Jan 2010
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And not wanting to rant on too much...
BMIbaby moving from a great airline of choice to in my view an utter shambles with it's niche break/sand an sun/ teneriffe holiday strategy all around the same time.
BMIbaby moving from a great airline of choice to in my view an utter shambles with it's niche break/sand an sun/ teneriffe holiday strategy all around the same time.
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
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I remember a few years ago BMI having a great little hub at MAN.
northern hub is far too profitable, let's commit commercial suicide and shut it and worship the mighty Heathrow."
Quite right, that's what happened, they ruined a profitable base as they, British MIDLAND, have a Southern bias. That's of course what happened.
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Bermuda Shorts and Cessna Caravans
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I remember a few years ago BMI having a great little hub at MAN. However BMI 'management' decided that the future was to desert the regional base and go head to head with BA at LHR. Utter stupidity in my view and business suffered. I think that when Lufthansa eventualy took over the business it was clear that they were going to run BMI in to the ground such that they wouldnt provide any serious competition. LH would never have given up their regional bases so easily. In my view another example of a great UK company being run into the ground and jobs lost for a quick buck!
Yeah they actually thought "Hecky thump this
northern hub is far too profitable, let's commit commercial suicide and shut it and worship the mighty Heathrow."
Quite right, that's what happened, they ruined a profitable base as they, British MIDLAND, have a Southern bias. That's of course what happened.
northern hub is far too profitable, let's commit commercial suicide and shut it and worship the mighty Heathrow."
Quite right, that's what happened, they ruined a profitable base as they, British MIDLAND, have a Southern bias. That's of course what happened.
Join Date: Oct 2000
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BMIbaby moving from a great airline of choice to in my view an utter shambles with it's niche break/sand an sun/ teneriffe holiday strategy all around the same time.
@S1E
Quite right, that's what happened, they ruined a profitable base as they, British MIDLAND, have a Southern bias. That's of course what happened.
Problem with that was they did everything but nothing really well: they had good transatlantic loads from MAN and dropped them to go to LHR. They had small bases in the regions and shut them to move everything to a more expensive LHR cost base. They had 3 back offices and systems for the 3 brands: the entire organisation, mainline, baby and regional has close on 3 x the staff per aircraft that Ryanair has: little wonder that they floundered.
Poor leadership: lions led by donkeys.
Join Date: Jan 2000
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Funny old world 
Just read in the Sunday Times that Lord Glendonbrook aka Bishop was reported as being one of the Tories top donors to the tune of £705,000.
Hundreds of employees with have effectively had a pay cut of 15% over the last three years, don't know whether they have a job after the Summer season.
Its true what they say: If you want a guarantee in life buy a TV from John Lewis and if you want loyalty get yourself a labrador dog.
Just read in the Sunday Times that Lord Glendonbrook aka Bishop was reported as being one of the Tories top donors to the tune of £705,000.
Hundreds of employees with have effectively had a pay cut of 15% over the last three years, don't know whether they have a job after the Summer season.
Its true what they say: If you want a guarantee in life buy a TV from John Lewis and if you want loyalty get yourself a labrador dog.
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Manchester, England
Age: 58
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Yeah they actually thought "Hecky thump this
northern hub is far too profitable, let's commit commercial suicide and shut it and worship the mighty Heathrow."
Quite right, that's what happened, they ruined a profitable base as they, British MIDLAND, have a Southern bias. That's of course what happened.
northern hub is far too profitable, let's commit commercial suicide and shut it and worship the mighty Heathrow."
Quite right, that's what happened, they ruined a profitable base as they, British MIDLAND, have a Southern bias. That's of course what happened.
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Manchester
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It doesn't take a rocket scientist or indeed an accountant to see that since the MAN based 330's were pulled the company slipped further and further into the red! (I know other outside factors have played a part in that.) IMHO they must've made a positive contribution to the bottom line! There was ALWAYS a belly full of cargo on the ORD and I'm sure it wasn't transported for free!
The company has been managed for personal gains for several decades and when the rot stopped BD was too far gone to be turned around without serious investment and restructuring. LH had neither the time or the interest in doing so. A sad turn of events for bmi, though completely avoidable.
The company has been managed for personal gains for several decades and when the rot stopped BD was too far gone to be turned around without serious investment and restructuring. LH had neither the time or the interest in doing so. A sad turn of events for bmi, though completely avoidable.
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
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Your first sentence is closer to the reality, but that isn't what they were thinking. At the time they thought that although MAN was profitable (allegedly) they could make more money by using the 330s from LHR - with 20/20 hindsight not the greatest commercial decision ever made.
Saudi was a natural for the A330 but they have struggled to make the best of things.
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: I'll go and ask the Captain
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Whether or not the 330's stayed in MAN is fairly irrelevant to the outcome of bmi. Personally I'm tired of the continual reference to it from the usual suspects (within bmi). Airlines put a/c where they want, when they want and for their own reasons, MAN was only ever a temporary home for the 330's. Sometimes there are other considerations such as; speculate to accumulate. Don't forget the economic crash in 08 had a huge part in the failure of the 330's at LHR.
2 or 3 a/c aren't going to influence the company that much, except for the crew that enjoyed the prestige of flying the Caribbean every week (and reminding everyone else at work
). The network however, that's a different story and that's the real issue.
bmi hasn't failed, it's only reached it's planned ending a little sooner than expected, albeit in a poorer state than desired.
6
2 or 3 a/c aren't going to influence the company that much, except for the crew that enjoyed the prestige of flying the Caribbean every week (and reminding everyone else at work
). The network however, that's a different story and that's the real issue.bmi hasn't failed, it's only reached it's planned ending a little sooner than expected, albeit in a poorer state than desired.
6
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Manchester
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TRF I was thinking the same. I have no agenda as to where the A330's fly to or from (they'll be gone soon anyway!) The 'prestige' you talk of was not mentioned in my post. BD used the long haul aircraft from LHR in what was already a saturated market, with a product that didn't outshine any of their competitors, hardly a recipe for success! If it ain't broke don't fix it!
Join Date: Aug 2002
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MAN was only ever a temporary home for the 330's
That something was a Manchester based long haul operation operating daily MAN-ORD and MAN-IAD. One up against American, with both code sharing with United. The third aircraft was stored for a summer, leased out then brought into operating MAN-YYZ for Air Canada for a year then in addition to the US routes, bmi launched MAN-UVF, MAN-ANU, MAN-BGI and MAN-LAS. These routes were heavily sold by Virgin Holidays and it's no surprose that Virgin Atlantic have taken up BGI and LAS, with UVF being tried but dropped as the B744 was too big. This remains a potential Virgin A330 route was it not for the fact that Virgin are moving ALL their A330s to LHR over the next few years. Sound familiar?
Washington was dropped on the A330 in favour of a leased Icelandair B757 when LHR-BOM was launched and the Carribbeean routes and MAN-ORD were next to go. I think in fairness the only one that made a real impact was MAN-ORD which would have left a one aircraft operation which like MAN-JFK on BA is not something airlines like to do anymore. These aircraft were intended for LHR long haul and never bought for Manchester, which is a shame but is also the truth.
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: London
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British Airways will introduce it's code on bmi flights to nice important business and industry destinations later this week.
The bmi flights included in the codeshare are: Yerevan (Armenia); Baku (Azerbaijan); Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); Tbilisi (Georgia); Almaty (Kazakhstan); Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan); Beirut (Lebanon); Freetown (Sierra Leone) and Khartoum (Sudan).
Executive Club members travelling on codeshare routes with a BA flight code will be able to earn Avios and Tier Points from April 5, 2012. Customers will be able to book these flights through both ba.com and flybmi.com.
The move follows the European Commission's decision last week to give the go-ahead for IAG's purchase of bmi.
When the sale of bmi completes, which is expected around April 20, bmi will lose the commercial support of Lufthansa and Star Alliance.
The bmi flights included in the codeshare are: Yerevan (Armenia); Baku (Azerbaijan); Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); Tbilisi (Georgia); Almaty (Kazakhstan); Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan); Beirut (Lebanon); Freetown (Sierra Leone) and Khartoum (Sudan).
Executive Club members travelling on codeshare routes with a BA flight code will be able to earn Avios and Tier Points from April 5, 2012. Customers will be able to book these flights through both ba.com and flybmi.com.
The move follows the European Commission's decision last week to give the go-ahead for IAG's purchase of bmi.
When the sale of bmi completes, which is expected around April 20, bmi will lose the commercial support of Lufthansa and Star Alliance.
Join Date: Jul 2002
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@S1E
Did you ever work for Tony Bliar? That's quite a spin to put on things!
The 330s were specc'd for ORD: fact.
They were ordered with First, Business and 107 Economy.
The First cabin was huge: I recall asking Roger M******k who the f**k had come up with this great plan when he showed me the drawings. At that time every other operator on the Atlantic was getting rid of First or downsizing.
Not bmi.
Nevertheless, having established a longhaul operation from MAN with a feed from LHR it was utter folly to drop it.
Washington was dropped on the A330 in favour of a leased Icelandair B757
The 330s were specc'd for ORD: fact.
They were ordered with First, Business and 107 Economy.
The First cabin was huge: I recall asking Roger M******k who the f**k had come up with this great plan when he showed me the drawings. At that time every other operator on the Atlantic was getting rid of First or downsizing.
Not bmi.
Nevertheless, having established a longhaul operation from MAN with a feed from LHR it was utter folly to drop it.
Join Date: Aug 2002
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Play the ball and not the man and jeep the snide comments for the playground please.
What's wrong? MAN-IAD was dropped to a leased FI B757 around 2005 and so the excellent product on the A332 wasn't available and hence the route was in a vicious circle to a death spiral commercially.
The A332s may have been specced out on delivery for MAN however they were ordered for LHR, a lot changed between contract and delivery!
Please don't end statements with "fact", when stating your opinion. When bmi fed MAN long haul from LHR overflow, that shows they are not getting their revenue to add up locally and they have to capacity dump from another more price sensitive market. Instead of a point to point regional premium, they were selling basement fares. Exactly what is good and sensible about that?
What's wrong? MAN-IAD was dropped to a leased FI B757 around 2005 and so the excellent product on the A332 wasn't available and hence the route was in a vicious circle to a death spiral commercially.
The A332s may have been specced out on delivery for MAN however they were ordered for LHR, a lot changed between contract and delivery!
Please don't end statements with "fact", when stating your opinion. When bmi fed MAN long haul from LHR overflow, that shows they are not getting their revenue to add up locally and they have to capacity dump from another more price sensitive market. Instead of a point to point regional premium, they were selling basement fares. Exactly what is good and sensible about that?
Join Date: Jul 2002
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@S1E, it is a fact that the 330s were specc'd for ORD, or perhaps the project manager lied to me:high comfort attendant seats, no rest area, no bunks.
I saw the drawings laid out on his desk at Stockley, he invited me to look over them with him: so don't tell me what is opinion and what is is fact.
How about transfer pax to United from the catchment area and from LHR: LHR isn't the only airport in the UK; if you can feed traffic anywhere it makes sense.
I saw the drawings laid out on his desk at Stockley, he invited me to look over them with him: so don't tell me what is opinion and what is is fact.
How about transfer pax to United from the catchment area and from LHR: LHR isn't the only airport in the UK; if you can feed traffic anywhere it makes sense.