flapsfulretard

I didn't suggest the 330s should be on the GLA. Perhaps you are too young to remember the truly awful shuttle before BMA joined in!

What I was trying to say was that in order to attack any transatlantic market, a better product than the opposition must be in place. Hence, whilst LHR is in turmoil, it would be difficult and I am sure that SMB will not act on such a fundemental expansion until BAA gets it's sh*t together.

BA were obliged to react to BMA in the early eighties and they did, but not before BMA had their feet well and truly under the table on these routes.

I agree with you about airlines being in business for so long and nearly forty of these years has been with Bishop at the helm!

Tashkent stopped last Autumn.

Is it true the A330s have been delayed until 2009 as well? Pity Tehran, BEY and Almaty could certainly use these!

flapsfullretard....

"why walk down the hill and f**k one cow when you can walk down the hill and f**k all the cows."

That is a classic. Did you make that up? haha....:}

Gold star for you!

Bmi - 4yi
 

A report in to-day's Travel Trade Gazette says that BMI will drop LBA- Lille from 21 September, surprise,surprise!!, due to low loads.
Another report says BMI will drop domestic flights from Heathrow to Manchester, LBA & Durham Tees. First to go will be Manchester where traffic has dropped from 120,000 per year to 76,000.
The airline will unveil its winter timetable in a couple of week when it will confirm its move away from domestic and short haul routes in favour of routes to the middle east and further afield. Improved rail links and security delays are given as the main reasons.

Comments above taken from another forum

never would be my guess, pathetic climb down after all those years of lobbying to get open skies.

A pathetic climb-down indeed. A sell-off shouldn't be too far down the line now. Sir Michael Bishop has done well to position the airline over the years. Now with open-skies in place, a huge slot portfolio and bilateral rights to fly all these mid-haul routes thanks to the aquisition of BMED, the airline is approaching it's peak value. My money is on Lufthansa but BA & Virgin Atlantic will be watching very closely to get their chance of grabbing it.

If there is any cancellation of domestic services then I suspect is has more to do with LHR slots than anything else, BA only use the route to feed onto their international network.


You can travel by train from MAN city centre to London in 2hours 20 minutes, for £12.50 at the moment, so those slots are probably of more use for other things, either expanding the BMED routes, or new Atlantic services.

LOL!

Never in a month of Sundays! Durham would be first to go. MAN can supply ALOT of connecting passengers if BMI were to start US flights. Would be very surprised if the whole service was cut.

Can't see MAN-LHR getting axed, it's a crew shuttle most of the time.

MAN more likely to go to regional operations than be dropped.

6

What about the Baby ?
 

If SMB sells to Lufty or Virgin, what will happen to bmiBaby ?

Who on earth would be interested in 21 old Boeing 737s

:bored:

Lufthansa may increase BMI stake: CEO

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/2007082...549cbb6_1.html

Well Lufty have loads of older 737s............

BMI Baby
 

AltFlaps

I see your point re Baby and as a passenger on their flights it is distressing to see them adding more old 733's!

However non of Baby's 737's are 25 years old. G-BYZJ is the oldest 300, built in 1991 with 33909 hours at 31/12/03 per the CAA. G-OBMP is next in 1992 with 37408 at 31/12/04 - went on that one in early August and it was fine inside and only the paintwork was a little tatty.

They have three 735's built in 1991 (G-BVZG, H & I) and I understand that some if not all of these three aircraft will be replaced over winter 2007/8 with some more 300's.

G-BVKB built in 1994 is the new one of the 500's and has only 27579 hours on the clock at 31/12/05 - a good few years left possibly?

Pete

Ducksoup,could you please explain the shuttle route competition between BA and BMA?
I'd like to know more about that.

I don't think an airline would take into account the fact that a lot of its employess commute from a certain place when they are looking into its future as a route to operate.

If they needed the slot to operate something else then they would. Although on the Manchester route the only time I can see that being dropped by either BMI or BA is when there is a quicker and cheaper train service than there is at the moment.

I heard that years ago when BMI started one of its scottish routes on the first day BA put Concorde on the route to steal the limelight!!

BMI in only 'early' Shannon talks
 

Looks like they are talking down in Limerick about BMI and SNN-LHR.....




http://www.rte.ie/business/2007/0828/shannon.html



"But he added that if the Shannon Airport Authority came up with 'some support', BMI would look at any package closely."

Can't help noticing that SNN-LHR and DTV-LHR are both 1 hr 20 block time, if you get my drift... ;)

What a shambles! Assuming it isn't all intentional, as Max Angle (as ever probably spot on) and Von Altibar have suggested. I thought MB had lost his historically over-cautious marbles, but this latest screech to a timid halt is more true to form.

Even the excuse isn't too convincing, is it? I thought bmi was hyped up as being adept at taking advantage of chaos - Heathrow in a mess should be ideal, "if" all that hype is correct (that is a great big "if" though).

All this delaying whilst maintaining fleet expansion is going to be massively expensive. Bet Lufty and SAS are chuffed at the prospect of another year or more well into the red.

It's nice being a spectator on the outside, settled happily with a profitable airline which knows how to treat people properly. :) I just feel sorry for all the decent people in bmi (and not sorry at all for all the b******s, of which there are an abnormally high number).

OK I'm going to stick my neck out and gush with a most unusual pride for the company I work for. bmi would not have been in the business for as long as they have, had they not taken calculated risks or lucked in quite a lot. SMB might be right to let the dust settle from Open Skies before launching his product, once T1 is ready as the Star Alliance terminal and the bunfight is under way. On the other hand it means we're getting in late and might miss crucial new market share. Regarding bmibaby, the -500s are on their way out allowing the company to standardise on the -300. Although not as shiny and new as some other airlines' fleets, they are here to stay having joined us from every corner of the world, and get about getting people from A to B cheaply and safely. If baby needed a new fleet like mainline or regional, we'd have one. Also I'm sure plenty of airlines would line up to buy us, our fleet is leased so easily expendible, little heirarchy with many tasks still performed by mainline and a good slot portfolio.

Don't you mean if the board wanted baby to have a new fleet, they'd have one? Necessity has never been a reason for the board to open the purse before!

And getting rid of the -500s to "standardise" on the -300s? Which management e-mail did you copy-and-paste that one from? Since when has there been any significant 'non-standard' issues between the two?!! There was no problem at BM for 11+ years; financial, operational or otherwise...

I guess I am totally out of step with everyone else as I read BMI's decision to hold of transatlantic flights and thought it was a sensible idea.

There will no doubt be a rush to offer flights from LHR, why not stand back see what happens and then once the dust has settled go ahead.

I have noticed on Jethro website that BmiBaby is expecting a delivery of a 733 aircraft in May 2008, currently registered as EICUS (air one) any news on when others will arrive?

Don't think MB is too interested in such activities with cows, either singly or in numbers.

Bye Bye Ba-a-a-a-aby, Baby Bye Bye (and no, I'm not a Bay City Rollers fan)
You should have weighed up the baby prospect before joining! Unless you joined in the optimistic beginning, when baby was formed to compete valiantly and corageously with Easyjet (Go) when they moved in on East Midlands. "Lets see off the imposters!" was the cry.

Come to think......all this talk of how bmi likes competition, it hasn't actually done very well at all against Easyjet, has it?

Or Ryanair

Or.......hey, come to think, it hasn't done well against anyone!

Nope, only time bmi likes competition is when it has the advantage of Heathrow slots, short haul, against BA. That's pretend competition.

Could it just be bmi has realised that transatlantic will be real competition, even with Heathrow slots in it's arsenal?

Yep, looks very much like bmi is scared of real competition and that's why it is delaying the start of the transatlantic "war".

Tui and a certain lo-cost airline could be interested in a few old 733

Acbus1, same old vitriol and poison You must still be really miffed because bmi gave you the push:D especially now the the airline is really on the up!!
SMB has forgotton more about running an airline than you will ever know!! and your anti bmi tirades are childish in the extreme, may I suggest you goo back to whatever it is you do best (loading bags?) and leave the airline discussions to the real airline people:ok:

Loading Bags??? More like shoveling sh1t. Acbus1 is obviously a very bitter ex bmi member of staff with posts not worth reading.

I, as usual, was merely expressing my opinion, this being a Forum for that purpose, I've been assuming.

Do the last three "contributors", or anyone else, disagree that bmi baby has failed to compete successfully with any other airline?

Do the last three "contributors", or anyone else, disagree that the "success" of bmi has relied entirely upon its allocation of Heathrow slots?

Do the last three "contributors", or anyone else, disagree that the "success" of bmi at Heathrow has been entirely on short haul routes, against a single so-called competitor in the form of British Airways, who have famously little interest in short haul (presumably because BA have bigger profits to rake in on their long haul routes and their Heathrow slot allocation gives them a vast "competitive" advantage in that respect)

Do the last three "contributors", or anyone else, disagree that bmi management from the top down is a shambles. (and isn't it fascinating how that management assumes the characteristics of its upper echelons .....pilot haters to a man. Even the pilot management hates, bullies and victimises its "fellow" pilots).

Do the last three "contributors", or anyone else, disagree that this latest retreat from real competition exposes the true colours of bmi and it's "management".

Do the last three "contributors" actually have a contribution to make to the thread topic? I've posed you some questions to answer, since you seem to be bereft of original thoughts or opinions (about the thread topic, not me) of your own.

Is it?

All it has done so far is buy a loss making airline (with Heathrow slots, just to give the real motive away).

bmi will be on the up when it consistently makes a profit! Simple business fact - a company is on the up when it makes money! At least you've finally admitted that bmi has been down (for some years, if you really open your eyes)!



BTW, I don't contribute because I'm bitter. I contribute because the majority seem blind to the facts and to reality. It's a continuing fascination and frustration for me - how a workforce, almost to a man, can be so blind, to the extreme extent that it is to their own severe disadvantage!

Thanks for the suggestion.

But, a question......how, exactly, does one "goo"?

To be fair BMED came without the slots, the new schedule will be operated using bmi slots. What it did have was route licenses, how much money we can make out of them is very much open to question IMHO, I guess we will see in the next 6-12 months. Unfortunately the rest of the picture you paint is largely accurate, bmi is VERY far from out of the woods yet and I don't think the mainline part of the company will enjoy much success until someone else owns it and runs it.

New Routes
 

Hi All,

New routes are being annouced on tuesday 04th Sep. Any ideas as to what these could be ? I'm not talking about CAI or the BMed selection so other destinations.

LHR/SNN (highly likely !)

Nit picking on a typo:eek:
The last and most childish defence of the indefensible by a one trick pony with a warped agenda
1/ We are talking about bmi and not bmibaby so lets keep to the subject in hand
2/ The success of bmi was based on SMB`s determination to take on BA in the 1980s on the domestic and then European short haul market his success in doing this is dmonstrated by the very fact that bmi is still in business and has managed to see BA off on more than one route
3/ Your opinion on the management is predictable bearing in mind you were binned by the company (can`t think why:})
4/ Why try and take on the competition when you can go for routes that have no other operators serving the destination out of LHR, the issue SMB had was about a chosen few being able to operate to the US from LHR not to particular destinations within the US.
The true colours are of a cautious management who will pick their time and place to commence operations and will not be rushed into decisions by disgruntled EX employees whose sole wish in life is to see a lot of hardworking people out of a job because he has an axe to grind
5/ You have not posed any meaningful questions all you have done is to spout your predictable and rather sad opinions again, it really is time to find a new outlet for your frustrations
Maybe because deep down most of us are intelligent enough to realise that bmi is by no means the worst employer in the industry and most of us can see a future with the company.We have seen some bad times and now we are looking forward to the good times AND THAT`S WHAT FRUSTRATES YOU!!!:ugh::ugh::ugh:

That isn't actually true, it was the other members of the BBW partnership that pushed a very reluctant SMB into it!

Where do all you guys that are gushing such wonderous support for bmi work? I havn't heard any comments like that from the folk I work with. Its pretty much as A1 posts. I am intrigued to know which base I should put in a transfer for as I really want to have your views. Honestly, I would love to have the faith you guys have.

I havn't seen such posts here before and the only thing that has changed recently is the crew food, has some happy pills been put in it?

6

BMI are restarting their lunch time DUB-LHR flight BD125/126 for the winter.

It is not a matter of wonderous support, we all know that at times things could be done better, however my view is that the grass is no greener with most airlines out there. Sadly some disgruntled ex employee who could not make the grade keeps on trying to rubbish the company and make ridiculous statements like the ones we are seeing in this thread and I for one agree with I.C and think he deserves to be challenged, I know I should not rise to trolls :ok:

I agree 100% with mcc... I am more than aware of the seemingly poor management decisions made by bmi, whether that be mainline, regional, longhaul etc etc.

What annoys me more though, are posts which only seem to want to destroy speculation and discussion in this forum. I enjoy constructive discusion and criticism but do not enjoy it when it is so obviously one sided and single minded.

bmi are far from right in many of the decision made from my perspective as an 'armchair' CEO!!! There have been a lot of good people affected with the years of cutbacks and poor decisions i.e. getting rid of business, cutting engineering, starting routes to cancel months later. I could go on but won't. But they have been around for years and look to continue to do so - so they must be doing something sort of right.

I hope they find the right way forward and make the company a success again - like it once was.

Mod kit; you seem to be totally contradicting yourself. On the one hand you criticise those that suggest bmi management are useless and on the other you criticise them yourself.

It would seem that the only reason anyone here supports bmi is because they have survived for years. And there is a very simple explanation why they have lasted so long: the staff. Whilst the management have fretted from one problem to another and made half hearted attempts at one market/route or another, the staff have covered up the day to day failures and made sure the job was done, without the support/infrastructure/INVESTMENT that bmi should have given its customers and staff.

If survival is the only measure of success then bmi is a success story. If on the other hand success is measured by growth, innovation, brand and profit then bmi is a failure, albeit one that is still around.

Bmi is a privately owned company and as long as it remains that way it will only ever benefit one man (if it was mine, I would do the same!). Until that changes, the slots which bmi control at LHR will never reach their full potential for passengers or staff.

6

Bmibaby 737
 

Looks like the 300s and 500s of Bmibaby are getting on a bit,i wonder if Bmibaby will replace them or upgrade them to 737NG,since many airlines such as Flybe and Easyjet are on the eco theme at the minute and i shouldnt see why Bmibaby shouldnt take part in it,might attract a few new customers:cool:

The 300 and 500 do the job just right. What's wrong with them? Cabin maintenance has nothing to do with the aeroplane itself, and they are the best tool for the job. But maybe this discussion is better in Spotters where it belongs? This is Rumours and News young man.

Whats wrong with the 300 n 500s, going tech all the time at EMA. Its not just about going echo friendly but new a/c save on fuel, which means a lower base cost, cheaper tickets or profit.. . . . . . .

Lee

Well actually dumdumbrain the costs of leasing a 737-300/500 is considerably less per month than leasing and ex-Ryanair 737-800. I'm sure the bean counters at BMI Baby have it all in hand and just to add they are looking at newer aircraft but as yet which type has been undecided.


Regards