acbus1, well said.

bmi has been described as a collection of slots waiting to be sold.

Why the sudden desire to 'expand' and 'acquire'? Hard times for everyone looming. All this posturing strikes me as too little, too late. bmi has not been known for digging deep into its pockets.

Or is there a cunning plan?

Moderator time wasted by editing out personal attacks on this thread has reached an all time high.

The perpetrators of these attacks need to knock it off or be ready for extended time in the sin bin. If you can't tell who you are here is a hint: If you mention another PPRuNer in your post the chances are very high you are making a personal attack.

The ball, not the player.

Thanks,
The Mods

Fair one, but with respect, the complete drivel this guy/girl insists in posting, every single post he/she makes gets boring after a while.

Looks like WW to get both A321/A319 equipment from BD mainline. I'm guessing these will be coming from LHR as the 752s arrive.

Looks like they are to be based at MAN as the AGP rotation seems to have aither A321/319 on most days. A321 may be due to demand for because of competition - would be the smallest a/c on the route when competing with EZY/FCA/TOM/LS/ZB/XL etc.

Hope the a/c will be painted in full WW livery!:ok: Doubt it very much though...

ww
 

Where did this information come from.

It is known they were getting a 321 for most of summer but are you saying they are getting a 319 as well.

I am also interested to know where the A/C to operate the BCN will come from when it starts in September

Viscount

According to Jethro's fleet listings WW has GTOYL due in May 08 with GTOYI due at 08 but with no date.

Anyone know whats planned at CWL with the 0700 departure on Tuesdays left by the termination of the GDN? Is there another route or extra rotation due?

There are periods this summer when neither G-MIDC or G-MIDL are available for the WW contract, so an A319 will be used instead.

baby
 

How likely would the use of airbuses be for an incidental baby's network expansion?
Is the operation of the venerable classic 73's still valid fuel cost wise?

Bleeds:p

Yes, Does anyone know what happened to the old Commercial Director of Baby? Steve Burns? Was he pushed? Where is he now?

Baby have failed to expand significantly and rsik beingpushed out by Ryanair and EasyJet. The name of the game is to expand to survive... and do it aggressivly.

Another Branson/bmi takeover
 

From The Times

April 15, 2008


Sir Richard Branson in talks with Dubai International Capital over bmi takeover




David Robertson, Business Correspondent


Sir Richard Branson has held talks with Dubai International Capital (DIC), the $12 billion sovereign wealth fund, about financing a possible takeover bid for bmi, The Times has learnt.
The billionaire entrepreneur is understood to have joined senior executives from Virgin Group when they visited Dubai recently to discuss potential deals in the health, mobile phone and airline sectors.
Among the proposals discussed by Sir Richard and DIC was the possibility of a joint £750 million bid for bmi, the former British Midland.
Sir Michael Bishop, who owns 50 per cent plus one share in bmi, is widely expected to put his stake up for sale this year, although he insists that he is under no pressure to do so.
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Lufthansa, the German national carrier, is a 30 per cent shareholder in bmi and has an option to buy out Sir Michael.
However, if Lufthansa passes on Sir Michael's stake, then Virgin Atlantic will try to take control of the airline.
Alternatively, there are rumours that Lufthansa and Virgin may co-operate in a deal to buy bmi and create a European super-carrier.
Virgin will face competition from British Airways, which revealed last year that it would be interested in acquiring bmi.
Virgin and DIC were partners last year in the failed bid for the struggling Northern Rock bank. The recent meetings are thought to have been preliminary discussions on how the two groups could co-operate in the future.
Other than bmi, the possible joint ventures could include developing a Middle Eastern Virgin mobile operation and expanding the presence of Virgin Active health clubs in Dubai.
If Sir Michael does decide to auction his stake in bmi, he will be in a strong negotiating position.
The value of the airline's slots at Heathrow have risen dramatically since the introduction of the "open skies" agreement between Europe and the United States.
Airlines such as Continental and Delta are desperate to get into Heathrow but cannot do so. Control of bmi's slots, therefore, would be a huge boost for any carrier.
Virgin is also interested in bmi because it would give it a short and medium-haul feeder network. This would bring passengers from across Europe to its base at Heathrow, allowing them to transfer to long-haul Virgin flights.
A spokesman for Sir Michael said: “No decision has been made and no decision needs to be made, as bmi's shareholders can just carry on as they are.”
Virgin declined to comment.
British Airways is thought to be keen to buy bmi to consolidate its leading position at Heathrow, but such a bid would generate competition concerns.
BA may also struggle to finance a bid for bmi should Sir Michael choose to auction his stake.
The airline has issued a profit warning for this year and some analysts have predicted that its profits could more than halve to less than £400 million.
The combination of Terminal 5 costs and the financing of a new fleet of aircraft could put bmi out of its reach.

bmi - MAN to JFK
 

Now that BA have pulled off the Manchester to New York route is there an opportunity for bmi to operate this route. Or has the deal already been done?

Ba haven't pulled off the route - its going to be operated under the Open Skies. Still with a 767 as per the booking engine. :ok:

Isn't that a decleration of war to BALPA, directly replacing a BA crew with an Openskies crew would bring the pilots out on strike for sure. I'd be amazed if it was Openskies.

No way on this earth will it be operated under openskies. Like skipness one echo says it would be all out war.

BA Chops MAN-JFK now offical
 

British Airways is boosting services from London to New York JFK by starting
daily flights from Gatwick on Monday October 27, 2008.

The new flights mean that the airline will fly 62 times each week from the
capital to JFK as the Gatwick flights will operate in addition to 55 weekly
flights from Heathrow.

Lynne Embleton, British Airways’ general manager network planning, said:
“The new Gatwick service will give our customers even more choice when flying
between London and New York. Not only do we already have an extensive schedule
from Heathrow to both JFK and Newark but next year we will launch business-only
flights from London City.�

The new flights from Gatwick will operate on a four class Boeing 777, with
First, Club World, World Traveller Plus and World Traveller cabins, that will be
moved from Heathrow.

British Airways will also start new shorthaul routes from Gatwick this October
with daily services to Oporto and Valencia.

Second daily services from Gatwick to Alicante and Turin will also be added from
the end of October.

Flights to Warsaw will move from Gatwick to Heathrow in October.

British Airways is to suspend its daily flight from Manchester to New York JFK
in October and move the Boeing 767 aircraft that operates the service to
Heathrow.

why not LHR-JFK???
 

Why would BMI consider flying MAN-JFK?? They have no feeder traffic at either end (one of the reasons UA could not survive on the LHR-JFK route); the withdrawl of UA on the LHR-JFK has left Star Alliance with a major gap in their network...surely it would be more sensible and commercially vialbe for BMI to fly LHR-JFK...not MAN-JFK.

Openskies with a 767. Yeah right.....

Muizenberg:

You are aware that bmi currently flies from MAN to several destinations in the US, and seems to make it work? JFK is probably the destination which least needs interline traffic for it to survive.

So I guess that just leaves Delta and Continental on the NYC runs now. bmi have got to look at this as being a good opportunity, LHR is going to be a really scrap with Openskies now in place, but MAN seems to suit their niche well.

Well London airways strikes again:sad:
However i cant honestly see bmi picking up the route!
Ord is doing well and Las and the carib routes are ticking along nicely,with bmi's lack of metal to operate long haul, it would be daft to pull off well established routes to compete against DL and CO on the nyc route
but who knows with bmi anyhthings poss !!!!
erj to jfk anyone:}