BMI cancelling internal flights
 

From the BBC

BMI is cancelling some of its services between Scotland and London in the period just before and after the New Year break, it has emerged.
The airline, previously known as British Midland, has reassured passengers that it has no intention of permanently cutting the route.

A spokesman said that the services were so empty that the firm had no choice but to reduce flights.

BMI has recently cut some transatlantic routes and many of its onboard frills.

Chief executive Nigel Turner told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that the decision on the Scottish routes was prompted by a low number of seasonal passengers.

Mr Turner said: "With it being the holiday season we do very closely examine the loads and if there is a specific flight, or one or two specific flights, where demand is very low then we will cancel those.

"BMI operates day-to-day from Edinburgh and Glasgow into London Heathrow, we've done so for the last 30 years and will continue to do so for the next 30 years."

Flights being cut on the Glasgow and Edinburgh routes to London Heathrow include services due to fly between 31 December and 4 January.

Read this also today.

Don't airlines do this every holiday period though (Christmas, Easter,bank hols).

Here, Eastern cancel a whole bunch of flights over the Christmas/New Year period, as no business demand.

Likewise BA cancel some London schedules, same reason.

Perhaps the story (or non-story??) is giving credence to the impression of BMI being in some sort of "trouble", going by other posts I've read on the airline.

Something of a "non-story", scheduled flights carrying a lot of business people around the holiday periods are generally trimmed to meet demand.

It also seems bmi have dropped the Luton-Brussels route, which was due to start in March 06. The route is not available for booking on their website anymore.

J

It is not unusual to cut a couple of frequencies late on 31 December and early on 1 January. However, around that time, travel is usually at a peak - and especially so on routes like Edinburgh where the destination sees an influx of tourists for new year.

The other thread previously running about bmi's appallingly poor performance seems to have disappeared some time ago. However, this is just another sign that passengers have deserted bmi in significant numbers and that other airlines - including BA - are benefitting from some increase in marketshare.

bmi always trim back services at Xmas / New Year. Nothing startling there, we like the chance to go on stby for a couple of weeks and have a breather. Same for many other airlines.

The routes to Scotland, especially those from bases other than LHR, are generally pitched at business passengers, albeit without business service in many cases. The fares reflect this. I do not think the airline would attract many New Years revellers at the fares charged. No sleep lost.

The Luton pipe-dream has been canned as the aircraft is required elsewhere. It was never going to happen...

Back to my beer and mince pies.

If that is indeed the case, it is a surprising admission by bmi that they just cannot attract the leisure market. I recall flying EDI-LHR a few years ago on 02Jan on a BA 767-300 because demand merited the upgrade from the 757. If bmi is cancelling flights at the same time and parking the aircraft, heaven help them. No other bugger will.

Does anybody know why their was a BMI aircraft in LGW the other day ?

Nice to see the Beeb up with the latest! British Midland/bmi have been doing this for the last 18 years to my knowledge, maybe even longer. A total non-story.

YS

i agree with the canx of certain flights, why run a high freq of flights with low pax on certain flights??? - just change them to the later or earlier flight. The good thing about doing this, and in particular bmi's case was that the flights were not canx on the day,it was pre done, which meant all pax would have been aware!

fao flyer55 - you sure it wasnt a baby a/c in lgw the other day?? we now operate a lgw-mme following pulling out of the lgw base some time ago.

regards

bmibabyfc

With G Lost on this...

Most scheduled airlines trim back over the xmas break, you know how it is, everyone is killing time between xmas and new year, Nothing gets done, business is slack !

Why fly an empty aircraft?

As for BMI in gatwick........ if there's no scheduled business pax over the hols, why not slip in a charter....and make some money



:ok:

It was a BMI Painted aircraft

You are correct flyer55.............

bmi have secured a weekend charter contract for a series of Winter charters from London Gatwick. Because Christmas falls over a weekend, LGW-GVA will commence operations on Saturday 24th December, however LGW-BCN initially operates on a Monday but switches to a Sunday operation from 8th January 2006.

moley.

The Luton pipe-dream has been canned

A shame, but then it would probably have lasted only about 18 months i.e. until Eurostar begins operating from St Pancras International.

Will also be interesting to see what happens to easyJet's LTN/CDG services at this time...

:confused:

So this morning, the only early shchd to London from GLA, Guess who, bmi!, yep, no BA, Easy, Ryan, etc. Just old bmi. I guess thats news! better tell the papers. BD001 early out and into LHR.

Bmi
 

I know this type of thread is supposed to be for Airport's but I'm doing one for my favourite Airline.

What's the chances they'll put 2005 behind them and turn things around in 2006?

Re: Bmi
 

....s L I M....

Re: Bmi
 

a very good chance, but as ive said in my prev posts, it will be an interesting year!!

come xmas nxt year we will see whether or not all these changes have worked......

Re: Bmi
 

It is already clear that bmi have lost losts of former high fare business customers. Whether bmi makes up for that with lots of low fare passengers is doubtful.

Re: Bmi
 

I would guess they are a mile away from getting it right.
I'm a BMi Diamond Club Gold Card Holder but have not booked anything with them for quite a while and am unlikely to in the immediate future.
Why?
1. I have no idea what they stand for anymore - high cost BA look alike or low cost pretender to the EasyJet crown? - probably neither. The Libdems of the airline world.
2. Long haul is a mess. Ws using them from Man - an excelllent product but have heard so much nonsense about them pulling out/not pulling out (including plenty on this rumour network), I'm much more likely to book on an airline that's in it 'for the long haul'. There is no way I will book a flight that ultimately gets pulled and I get an offer of a shuttle down to LHR to connect with a UA flight. This is missing the point -ie avoid LHR at all cost.
3. Finally - I just want them to be a viable alternative to BA so badly, but they've let me down by failing.

Please merge with Virgin and make a fist of it.

Re: Bmi
 

bmibabyfc - you keep mentioning something big or interesting is going to happen at bmi this year. Can you not elaborate and give us some more detail?

Apart from what we already know, e.g. new routes to Jeddah, Doha and Mumbai going daily, I can't see there being any further expansion of longhaul this year. Where are the aircraft coming from to do this? EU - US talks seem to have gone quiet, again even if a positive outcome is found to this, ops will not start until 2007 in reality and again only if suitable aircraft can be found.

Shorthaul is not a growth area due to the loco competition, so I can't see this as the solution.

Don't get me wrong, I'm keen to see bmi progress in the right direction, but at this moment in time struggle to see how!:confused:

Re: Bmi
 

Like VHF Flyer, I too am a Diamond Club Card Holder [although Silver not Gold in my case] and am in the same position of not having used BMI for a while---In my case not for a year. Why? Well the main reason is the poor Heathrow experience. On my last two BMI flights back from Nice the terminal facilities were simply not up to standard. In the first case,a jammed baggage belt system with no one around for ages to ask to fix it---this was around 10.30 at night---and on the second "late" arrival the terminal access road for the Pink Elephant car park shuttle was closed. No one was around to tell me that the [at that time quiet] road was closed and that I had to go upstairs to the departure level road. Hence a long cold frustrating wait. No more Nice via Heathrow for me!
The result is that I have returned to Easyjet via Bristol. I moved to BMI via Heathrow to avoid the boarding scramble that is part of the Orange experience---but have come to the conclusion that it is worth enduring the boarding in order to use the relatively pleasant airport of Bristol.
Why do BMI not fly from Bristol? If they did then I would be happy to use DTVAirport's favourite airline again.
P.S. In case you are wondering, I have retained my card by using it on other Star Alliance airlines [Thai in particular]. The Thai Heathrow experience is not something I enjoy but at least it is T3 rather than T1

Re: Bmi
 

FlyingFrog - heard something about an Emirates A330 being leased, possibly posted on this forum a while back but I'm not certain.

Re: Bmi
 

The Emirates A330 belongs to bmi, Emirates are "looking after it" until bmi have use for it. They're leasing an A333 from Qatar.

Re: Bmi
 

if bmi have an A330 being looked after by emerates why are they wet leasing a 757 for their 4th longhaul route???
Also ask the engineers at NEMA if the airline will be going places this year??????? when you do 'Duck' cos the base maintenance facility is closing down there, most of the eng staff being made redundant

Re: Bmi
 

If bmi have a current business plan they are keeping it well hidden but we will see the results in time. If it is like the one they have been following for the last five years it will take them further down the road of turning what was a highly successful short haul airline that competed strongly on major European trunk routes and provided a service that business travellers were willing to pay a premium for and leisure travellers willing to pay reasonable fares for in to a more fragmented organisation with no route structure that supports business travel and a base that does not appeal to leisure travellers in the main other than as a transfer point where they now won't interline your baggage making LHR more unattractive than it is already to many people. Long haul routes will develop further at the cost of short haul and there will be no passengers to interline to long haul from their short haul network and no onwards connections for long haul inbound so their routes will be of dubious worth.

Assuming they get rights in to the US from LHR, to get the slots they need to compete with BA they would have to decimate the current hopeless offering and they still would not match the others. After all, is one BD rotation to JFK going to affect travel in the market when BA operate seven rotations on that route alone? I think not. I'm a *G card holder who has not set foot on BD since May last year and I can't see me doing it any time soon as although I was brand loyal for many years they pushed me too far in terms of schedules and poor service that I moved everything I spent with them to BA and now I wonder why I put up with them for so long. Do they really think that people are going to opt to pay Premium Economy fares that cost more than Business Class did 12 months ago for the current level of service and paid for food? That thinking is crazy. I know many others in the same position and I don't think there is anything much they could do to recover the business that they have thrown back in our faces with their chaotic, negligent management. They supposedly introduced the August 2005 changes after surveying 10 000 people, does anyone know anyone who was surveyed, I don't and don't know anyone who does. They recently surveyed 200 former business class travellers who were also members of Diamond Club, I know more than 20 people who were surveyed then - does that tell you anything about the 10 000?

Their chances of turning things around? None.

Re: Bmi
 

Have had quite a few trips with bmi this year, but all BHD-LHR, where we still have a business class:) Service has been excellent "up front" but trips "down the back" on BA, pre-catering crisis felt better (15+ months since last BA flight, so they may have changed considerably)

However, I must admit that the new bmi fare structure has caused some confusion.... the company I work for tend to book quite a few people between BHD and LHR each month and the people who book the fares can't explain all the diferences between the fare structures... they still class it as "business" and "cattle".

General concensus amongst office folk and all relations/friends polled is that bmi have made a horlix of their economy structure with no-one quire sure of what they are geting for the money "down the back"....

Back in the good old days, we had to choices from Belfast, BA Super Shuttle (all one class) with a useful onward connection network via LHR; or BMI with business class for those who wanted or economy, which was generally filled with those who booked by price rather than favourite airline;) Personally, previously if I had onward travel, I booked BA for the advantages of through tiketing etc... no lugging hold baggage at LHR. Now, no option, as bmi don't have a worthwhile European/ long haul route structure.... So it is bmi to LHR, then onward with BA....

However, now BA has departed and no-one is quite sure what product bmi are trying to market, you can book easy or baby and at least you know you are getting low quality service at a low price. With bmi, it is not as claer cut, judging by the range of fares on offer...
Come on bmi, get a grip! (Or come back BA, pleeeeeeease)

Regards,

Shuttlebus

Re: Bmi
 

DVT the A330 was one of four bought by bmi but was sold to Emirates. Sadly it is no longer in the bmi inventory! Many wish that it were!


Faulty
I think you will find it is a 767 that bmi are using from MAN to the Caribbean and Las Vegas whilst the A330 undergo maintenance and then it goes to LHR to start up the Jeddah and take over the Riyadh. It has been reconfigured to give greater amount of Business class seating which these two routes demand.

Shuttle
British Midland - as was - also had a single business class aircraft on all routes. The service known as Diamond Service was excellent and was in no small part responsible for BA (who at that time did not offer hot breakfast!) to withdraw from the DUB - LHR route and immediately upgrade their BFS - LHR service.

bmi does have an European network and is the second largest user of Heathrow out of all the airlines in the World! The long haul routes are growing - however they are not a global airline and I doubt if they aspire to be one.

HWB

Re: Bmi
 

With reference to bmi and its NBM, service has definately taken a turn for the worse. For employees its been a nightmare with regular abuse regarding through check in policy and excess baggage charges. Staff moral is at an all time low!

Re: Bmi
 

If what is said immediately above is generally true across the network, its very sad - it seems that long gone are the days when British Midland was renowned for its leading products and service. As a passenger know I won't get involved in debates with bmi staff about lack of through checkin etc - I'm all too aware of changes that have been implemented, and as a result this is the last year I will have a Diamond Club gold card as my travel goes elsewhere now. This disappoints me because, as a former nine-year inmate at the Hall, I did like to try to ensure bmi got as much as possible of the travel I do for my current employer.

Re: Bmi
 

A few colleagues of mine have just flown MME-LHR and then back again, and they said the service was the best they've ever known.

Re: Bmi
 

The funny thing about BMI is that they always seem to have staff at morale an all time low, a stupid business model & general doom & gloom. They are still going despite years of these posts here.

Maybe SMB and his cronies aren't as stupid as we all think.

Re: Bmi
 

Don't have any hope for BMI. Isn't it the pilots that are supposed to have their head in the clouds, not the management???

bmi
 

I've looked in the business press for an unbiased analysis of this company but I can't find anything of interest. I fail to see how they have a sustainable business model for the future. Low cost from LHR is not an option due high cost base. The short haul model of yester year is gone thanks to easy et al. BA are hoovering up the business pax. Long haul to obscure destinations of little interest to the majority of the traveling public seem to be flavour of the month but would seem to offer little long term growth opportunity. As for transatlantic ops, if open skies were to occur, the major US and British carriers that already dominate the routes could extinguish bmi within a couple of months if they so desired with a little price war. Not to mention that their longhaul fleet size is a pitiful 3 330's with no likely prospect of an increase in the short term. Just what does the future hold. I know that moral among the staff is at an all time low as they all wonder whats round the corner. I feel that consolidation with another carrier is the obvious way out (Virgin) but the politics at the top suggest that's unlikey. Anyone care to share their views on this unhappy state of affairs?:uhoh:

Just read in last weeks Guardian and Man Evening News that now that the Vigins west coast line is recording times of 2 hours 15 mins between London and Manchester BMI hast lost 30 % of its pax on this route while BA has only lost 2%. I have also seen that Jet2 is going head to head on a lot of BMIbaby routes eg Cork and Paris. If I was working for BMI at MAN I would be looking of my shoulder!

They'll get hammered if they try to mix it with the big boys on LHR -USA routes - mad or naieve?

They have picked mainly the wrong long haul routes from MAN but they really could carve a useful niche with their Star Alliance pals.....
suggestions...
MAN to Los Angeles, Jo'burg/Capetown, Tokyo.

But hey what do I know? I'm just a humble passenger who might want to buy this kind of stuff.

GOAROUNDMAN

Jet2 don't currently operate to either Pais or Cork from MAN. Care to elaborate on that?

Most of the bmi LHR-UK routes have seen substantial reductions in loads in recent months, especially where BA operate a parallel service. The only routes (LBA and MME) to keep steady passenger volumes with the same months (eg Oct) in 2004 were those that received upgrades from F100's to new A319s, which offer about 25 more seats. Combined with the new "tiny fares" and the reduced loads, I find it very difficult to see that yields will have improved.

I can't be fussed to spend long on this, but here's the result of a quick search.


2002 - The airline posted a pre-tax loss of £19.6m for 2002, compared with a £12.4m profit the previous year.


2003 - loss of £8.9m


2004 - In March, Sir Michael Bishop announces that the bmi has returned to profitability. Company records a pre-tax profit of £2.1 million


2005 - January. Lufthansa hopes to sell its holding in unlisted UK carrier bmi to escape a clause that could force it to buy a GBP£229 million (USD$431 million) stake, a British newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Nov. - Scandinavian airline SAS "may sell its stake in carrier bmi and pull out of its loss-making joint venture with bmi and Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa on European routes". According to the report, SAS chief executive Jorgen Lindegaard said the venture had cost the company 105 million pounds in losses between 2000 and September 2005. Further, it said, under the terms of the deal, which came into force in 2000, SAS and Lufthansa carry 45 percent of any losses, while bmi takes on 10 percent.


2006 - 5 January. BMI British Midland has denied it is in crisis after official figures revealed it has been losing thousands of passengers while rivals are taking advantage of the revolution that has seen millions more Britons taking to the air every year. After reporting passenger growth of more than 11% in 2004, bmi has refused to publish monthly statistics since last February.
At its much-vaunted budget subsidiary bmibaby, summer passenger numbers rose by just 3% against growth at direct rivals easyJet and FlyBe of 21% and 26% respectively. The decline at bmi comes as a range of younger airlines such as Jet2 and FlyGlobespan have more than doubled in size and stolen market share.


What really matters to the passenger, though, is the reliabilty, efficiency and value they're getting. IMHO, bmi have now lost on all counts.

mind you this is the same press that quoted a "source" as saying that bmi cabin crew would need to take a $30,000 pay cut if they refused to fly to Riyadh.

That said, there's no smoke...

Bmi have lost a huge amount of high yield traffic with the nbm, and bearing in mind that short haul out of LHR has never really been that profitable, the cost savings will have to be pretty substantial. It's difficult to see a return to profit without major investment in long haul but i am not sure the resources are there

I suspect we shall see the true colours of the company when Lufty and SAS manage to extricate themselves from the equation!:ugh: