Will be interesting to see once the BHX-BFS route starts up how it affects the pax loads on FlyBE's BHX-BHD route which at the moment is regularly 80+ with as mentioned 7 daily flights.


Regards

Rumours are that Baby are pulling NOC EMA after summer schedule. Are Baby relocating that aircraft, seems crazy to compete with MYT on such a thin route!

Also heard that Baby may base an a/c at either BHD or BFS.
Anyone got more info on this?

The schedule from 07.01.05 :-

Dept To Flight No Arr Flight No Days

0600 AGP WW1031 1235 WW1032 Su
0650 BFS WW1021 0930 WW1022Mo/Tu/We/Th/Fr
0700 AMS WW1011 1040 WW1012 Mo/We/Th/Sa
0700 BFS WW1021 0930 WW1022 Sa
0700 EDI WW1001 0930 WW1002 Daily
0755 AMS WW1011 1100 WW1012 Tu/Fr
0900 EDI WW1005 1130 WW1006 Su
1000 AGP WW1031 1635 WW1032Mo/Tu/We/Th/Fr
1000 NOC WW1091 1250 WW1092 Sa
1000 ALC WW1041 1605 WW1042Mo/Tu/We/Th/Fr
1020 PRG WW1081 1510 WW1082 Sa
1100 ALC WW1041 1705 WW1042 Su
1120 NOC WW1091 1420 WW1092 Mo/We/Th/Fr
1130 PMI WW1051 1720 WW1052 Tu
1155 GVA WW1241 1635 WW1242 Sa
1200 AMS WW1011 1455 WW1012 Su
1320 AGP WW1031 1945 WW1032 Sa
1335 BFS WW1021 1600 WW1022 Su
1515 AMS WW1013 1815 WW1014 Mo/We/Th/Fr
1525 EDI WW1003 1755 WW1003 Su
1540 PMI WW1051 2130 WW1052 Sa
1630 AMS WW1013 1920 WW1014 Su
1635 AMS WW1013 2025 WW1014 Tu
1635 PRG WW1081 2120 WW1082 Mo/We/Th/Fr
1700 EDI WW1003 1930 WW1004Mo/Tu/We/Th/Fr
1735 BFS WW1023 2305 WW1024 Su
1825 PRG WW1081 2310 WW1082 Su
1845 BFS WW1023 2115 WW1024Mo/Tu/We/Th/Fr
1950 NOC WW1091 2240 WW1092 Su

Hmmmmmmmmmm, not to sure about the 2 hrs 30 mins + to BFS !
Or are they return trips ??


Just a small point. In which case shouldn't that be, Ret, instead of, Arr ??

Looks good though. Should loose a fair few to Baby from our lot and probably a load of ex Maersk too, if they have not obtained positions already.

Best of luck to their new venture.

Could you elaborate on this??I'd be interested to know more if it was to be based at BHD!!;)

runawayedge,

Yes you are correct, NOC is being dropped from EMA this winter, i think its mainly because of there not being enough aircraft as winter time is when they are scheduled for maintenance. As NOC is probably the worst performing route out of EMA (however, it is alot busier now the summer holidays have started), something had to go. EDI and BFS frequencies are also down to twice daily for the winter. I have also heard that BCN will not be returning nor will TLS be operating through the winter.

Staff from bmibaby were yesterday doing promotional photos in front of Terminal 1 at BHX. Official announcement very soon then? We already know who will be handling them (Aviance) and that there will be around 5 737s based at Brum. Rumour has it that they would fly over a dozen routes from here.

Competition? MyTravel Lite of course - but they only have 3 dedicated A320s. Ryanair have recently pulled out of BHX in protest at the "surprise" landing fee hike (which they always knew would happen after 2 years) and have only 2 rtn DUB flights/day.

BHX and the West Mids must have a bigger catchment area than EMA.

Go on, baby! :ok:

I believe you may have missed out a page of this thread :bored:

Interesting strategy by Baby here - the start date for these new routes is over five months away - is this because of aircraft shortage or are they simply testing the water. Suspect a bit of both - when they look at advance bookings a few months down the line, they'll have a better idea of demand and be able to refine timings and frequencies or, in fact, decide if some of the routes may not be viable at all - routes where there is established competition from Flybe, BACX etc come to mind

Also, can't help feeling there will have to be some rationalistion between BHX and NEMA given their relative close proximity to each other.

All I can say is that Baby will need to improve on their punctuality to be sure to take passengers from both Flybe and BACX on the Edinburgh and Belfast routes. Business travellers will not stand for lengthy delays for too long.

Flybe's frequency on both routes will certainly be a bonus to the regular traveller and bear in mind that a full pax load on a Q400 can easily compete in costs against full load on a 735. Another major factor is that the preference of BHD above BFS should not be underestimated.

How else could Flybe have competed against Easyjet for so long if they were not making money.

4yrs plus on the BRSBHD
3yrs plus on the NCLBHD
and more recently on the GLA/EDI-BHD run and they are still around.

I think that the fact that BHX has been opened up for Baby will almost definately clear the way for Flybe to start up on the MANBHD route.Expect this one for the start of the Summer '05 timetable.

Well according to the Derby Evening Telegraph on Tuesday night, BMI Baby management are very annoyed with Nottingham EMA management because they are constantly lowering their airport costs to attract more low-cost airlines in, like Easyjet and Ryanair.

BMI Baby said that they would never have opened up a new base at Birmingham if NEMA hadn't this obsession with getting in as many low-cost airlines based as possible.

Apparently BMI Baby wanted to put all of their money into NEMA and make it a super-hub. But they said that they didn't have much choice but to open up at Birmingham because Easyjet and Ryanair are constantly tring to snatch their routes from them which is obviously making some of their routes highly competitive so unpopular and therefore needing to be axed.

They said examples included Faro which had to be significantly reduced to just a Saturday departure from summer 2003 from daily in the winter 2002/3 season due to fierce competition from Easyjet. Other examples include Ryanair to Dublin and Gerona/Barcelona, and Easyjet to Alicante, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Malaga and Prague.

To be honest, I think BMI are hypocritical. They open up a new base at Brum where there is My Travel Lite doing almost half of their new routes like Knock, Alicante and Malaga. Plus they introduce Edinburgh when both Flybe and BA are on the route. And if thats not enough, they've got to compete with ThomsonFly at nearby Coventry on many of these routes... Talk about a bloodbath waiting to happen!! (As predicted my O'Leary - Ryanair boss).

And by the way, I think BMI Baby are an awful airline. I've flown with them from Glasgow to NEMA and Belfast Intl to NEMA. Well how shall I put it... the cabin cre are as rough as hell... they speak commonly and they look tatty in those awful t-shirts

And.. the prices are a rip-off... A cup of coffee or tea costs £1.50 where as Easyjet charge 60p. Also they can't seem to operate their aircraft properly.

Simon, I apologise if you found the crew to be "rough" or to not speak with an accent that you find pleasing to the ear (being born in Portugal, I have a Portuguese twang to my accent), but I can assure you that many people do like the bmibaby service that we have to offer.

As a crew member at bmibaby, and a passenger with EasyJet, I can inform you tea is not 60p on EasyJet, but is exactly the same price as the tea onboard our flights.

With regards to the uniform, these were designed in 2002, to give a "relaxed" approach to uniforms, and the airline has recieved negative feedback recently of these uniforms, and will be launching the new, smarter uniforms in September.

I have to disagree with baby management about NEMA attracting more no-frills airlines to the airport. If it's good for the airport, and the people that use the airport, then we ought to encourage airlines that can launch new routes, especially with baby not being strong enough to compete with Easy on FAO or Ryan on MJV.

What the future holds, I don't know ...

bmibaby paid someone to design a plain tee-shirt and pair of black trousers combo?!:eek:

Check out MyTravelLite’s new retro ‘catch me if you can’ style uniforms if you want a bit of class when you fly low-cost.:cool:

As far as I'm aware the uniforms were "designed" by a group of cabin crew members at bmi regional, alongside the bmibaby management team and the uniform providers. The idea was to mimick Southwest's popular "relaxed" uniform, however, this has not been as popular with travellers in the UK & Europe, and is being replaced with a "smart, casual" uniform from September.

Those that have been associated with EMA for some time will be well aware of BMA, British Midland, bmi and bmibaby's arrogant approach to "their" airport, maybe it is because Donington Hall is so close, or Sir Michael's house is not far away, but the airline has always seemed to claim posession of EMA, have shouted when they have not got their own way - but never done much very pro active to grow the airport.

If they want it so much maybe Si Michael could have bought it on either of the 2 occassions in the past when it has been up for sale.

If Simon's take on the situation is true then it just shows that baby don't believe they are big enough to play with the big boys, that they would rather throw their dummy out of the pram, or take their ball elsewhere shouting "Ner ner ne ner ner!"

If it bothers anyone, the airline I flew for were going to make BHX into the biggest superhub in the world - ever, but got upset when they spotted another aircraft on approach. But as it makes not one bit of difference what we "were" going to do I guess everyone cares about it as little as I do.

:ok:

Simon

What exactly do you mean...'can't operate their aircraft proprly'?

Uniform / Cat fight
 

Simon - perhaps you need to focus on your language did you not realise that the English Language has many accents - WHAT IS YOURS?!?!

UNIFORM - It is quite tacky but the 'retro' mytravel one will look tatty when baby launch their new one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have flown with Baby as a passenger from both Manchester and East Midlands quite regularly. On each occasion I have found the staff to be very pleasant and never had any problem with them.

As afar as the uniform is concerned yes it's plain, but whats the problem, if your paying £20 for a flight why you bothered what the staff wears.

As for the cost of a cup of tea, same on them all, I paid £1 to fly Jet2 to Belfast and £1.50 for tea on the flight, its something you have to accept, you may get the flight cheap but they got to make some money somewhere, if you are that bothered take your own drink with you.

Lets accept you arent going to get the same standards from a Lo-Co as you are a full fare airline.

Heard from a reliable source last week that BMI baby and flybe are in talks for a buy out. The 146 will be disposed of leaving a fleet of 737's and Q400's. Certain routes will be swapped over to the 400 and others onto the 73. Flybe will retain the name and the 146 jockeys will transfer onto the 737. A fleet of 70 aircraft comprising of 40 Q400's and 30 737's will make Flybe the third largest low cost carrier in Europe.