Jet2 jobs all over their careers page on the website.
They will be self-handling at EMA from this summer.

Jet2 only 'front house' self handling, ramp/ops will continue to be menzies...

Everyone within Jet2 has been told about the self handling operation at East Midlands, the jobs have been online for several weeks. Yes it is front of house, but to set up a self handling operation - around 40 PSA staff, station manager, duty managers, supervisors etc is not sustainable for just three aircraft with between 6 and 9 daily departures. There is a HUGE cost outlay to set up a self handling station and it is pretty clear that Jet2 want to be a major carrier at EMA.

The point i'm making is that Jet2 are gearing up to have the resources available for major expansion. I know this is the baby threat so I won't rattle on about Jet2, but baby and their new owners seriously need to act quick. It is hardly good for consumer brand confidence if the local press are publishing that no one wants to buy baby and it has an uncertain future. Is there really room for a loss-making, un-imagianative and extremely un-decisive carrier that really has retreated to a couple of airports and is now finding it extremely hard to survive as no one wants to buy them.

Baby is obviously a fairly well known brand around the midlands, but really lets be honest. If you were a family parting with hundreds of pounds for your family holiday - with the high degree of uncertainty would you fly with baby or one of their competitors? Lets be honest, baby are middle of the road and not particuarly cheap.

Jet2 have been advertising heavily in the midlands, in particular pushing the Jet2 Holidays package. They do have big plans for EMA and are moving in to mop up the BMI Baby mess and also cashing in on the uncertain future of Thomas Cook. Its sad but its a dog eat dog world in aviation.

Adds little!
 

Some interesting posts, most of which add nothing and fall broadly in to two camps of pro Jet2 supporters and the anti baby bashes by the usual suspects!

Let's get rid of a few myths, there is no carnage or mess for anyone to mop up, Jet2 have a reasonable product, but have and will find it an uphill struggle at EMA holiday packages aside where they have like others benefited from the press coverage over TCX's problems. It's worth remembering that GO/Easyjet came and went,FR put 7/8 aircraft in & Jet2 didn't even bother with a ski programe ex EMA this winter meanwhile baby plodded on.

The reason that there is such a large dilution in value for baby and regional if LH have not sold either or both before IAG completes is pretty much the same reason why Jet2 are unlikely to get involved, remember IAG have a large fleet of 737 at LGW and the baby union is already looking at TUPE regulations, the best result for Jet2 would be closure of baby and pick up routes and crews on Jet2 T&C's IAG have already stated that they will intergrate bmi and are not interested ex LHR.

LH have signed a non exclusive terms sheet with a British company ( no mention of airline!) & Intro of Germany have stated publicly that they intend to join the fray and I would be very surprised if there wasn't at least one or two other parties involved before an exclusive binding contract is signed, LH will want to avoid a re run of the Granite/Regional saga in the 8 week run up to IAG completion.

Bmi group losses are not publicly broken down between divisions, off course there are losses in baby but some of the figures in the press and on here are I understand well short of the mark, in any event the exact position will be known to all suitors and the TSA is in effect a sale contract for the bmibaby business allowing the buyer to conduct due diligence in order to ensure there are no non disclosed skeletons.

Whilst this has dragged on longer than anyone expected its clear the end game is in sight. Once a new owner is on board I expect they to will get slagged off on Pprune for either being to bold or to timid, it will take the rest of the Summer to un pick bmibaby from the bmi group, move HQ & rebrand for 2013 & re fleet there after.

There is still no mass exodus of either staff, moral or more importantly customers from baby despite the efforts of some ex employees trying to be a "little" to clever by half to dislodge the airline on the hill at EMA:rolleyes:

Ha ha....very clever, Inky...;)

(But don't shoot the messenger)

From AERBT
Who ever the new owner is, it will be challenging, just like every other aspect of the industry at the minute.
New owner on the way?
Lufthansa has confirmed that terms for the sale of bmibaby have been agreed. Whoever the mystery buyer is has not been announced, opening much speculation within the industry. The intended sale comprises 100% of the shares of low-cost subsidiary of bmi, which itself has been sold to British Airways, subject to Competition Commission approval. The bmibaby deal is non-exclusive and includes all assets and liabilities used in the bmibaby business including the 14-strong Boeing 737 Classic fleet, the existing route network and the continued employment of the existing staff.
It is envisaged that the legally binding transaction documents will be signed in the first quarter of 2012 and the completion of the transaction would occur shortly after this, subject to regulatory approval.
The new potential owner would continue to use the existing brand name for an interim period. The currently published summer 2012 schedule would continue.
bmibaby’s head office will remain in the Midlands and the airline continues to operate from its three existing bases in the UK: East Midlands, Birmingham and Belfast City.
bmi and the buyer have agreed not to disclose any financial aspects of the planned transaction.

Old news agentorange.

A signed term sheet doesn't mean anything other than a interested party can look at the company in more detail. It is a very long way from concluding a deal.

You just have to look at BMI Regional to see that an agreement in principle means nowt! That's been going on for months now with no signs of completion if any??

BMIBABY
 

I bet the buyer is Flybe.

But why would Europe's largest regional airline give a hoot about a loss making 737 outfit? They had issues with the finance for their E Jets. Don't think BE can suck up running Baby, I'm afraid to tell you.

Er no......................

What makes you think this??? :confused:

What makes you both think it will be flybe that buy bmibaby?

I hope I am wrong, but all this talk of a "MYSTERIOUS" buyer sounds very fishy to me.:uhoh:

I have seen this before and to me it seems like a smoke screen by management to maintain passenger confidence for forward bookings.

What assets would a potential buyer get for their investment? We all know Bmibaby aircraft are leased and the lease has been underwritten by DLH expiring 2013.

BMIbaby is a great company and deserves to succeed.

As our German friends say Viel Glück! :ok:

A few years ago a certain weirdly named Airline was taking shape to be a new setup in the UK and beyond.
The time wasn't great, they retreated into nothing, Exec's moved abroad to work, but still there is occasional talk.
IF Flyforbeans was still in the pipeline, this would be the perfect oppurtunity.
The owners would be UK registered, they wanted 737's (apparently -700's at the time)

Just to mix things up a bit.....

I don't think now is the right time still for FlyForBeans, despite the opportunity.

Looks to me like we're in the end game of consolidation in the European airline industry. Spoils to the victors and naff all to the losers.

Cirrus, Malev and Spanair all closed in the last month.
IAG taking over bmi and consolidating their grip on LHR.
TAP thought to be up for sale later this year as Portugal needs the cash.
Wizzair and Ryanair finally locking horns and engaging in their long awaited fight over central / eastern Europe.
Air Berlin tying up with Etihad
Virgin Atlantic putting on a pout and hoping to find anyone who will dance with them
LOT up for sale with both Lufthansa and Air France bidding.
Czech airline reportedly slashing routes.
Norwegian just ordered 200 new aircraft, with a hope of possibly being able to beat SAS into submission.
Alitalia who already own Air One now buying up Windjet and Blue Panorama to take almost complete control of the Italian airline industry.

Would you honestly want to start up a new fledgling European carrier right now centred around bmibaby or otherwise ?

not sure if its related, but what may support the Flybe rumour is the fact that a couple of managers within BMI/Baby were in Exeter (Flybe headquarters) a few days ago

To be fair dj6, there are *some* European airports that have potential for regional air operators to start-up still. But I don't think these 737's are the right gear for the job in any start-up.

I did not know Flybe were holding interviews?

So what have we got?

A mysterious buyer.
Connected with aviation but not necessarily an airline.
The Bmibaby Headquarters will be still be in the 'Midlands' but strangely not necessarily the East Midlands.
The buyer needs to be an optimist with lots of spare cash.

Well there's a guy who fits that description quite nicely.
Sir Peter Rigby over at Coventry Airport - as he can't get an airline to move into his airport he's possibly decided to buy his own! :)

Bye Bye Baby Good Bye.

Thanks for that. It's certainly lovely to see how some people seem to delight in the potential loss of hundreds of jobs.

I'm still hopeful that Baby will be bought, but even my optimism is wearing very thin now. It'd be a very sad day if it was just closed, especially as I've enjoyed working alongside the peeps at baby and I like to think I've made some good friends there too.

Yes its sad and it will be even sadder if Donington Hall goes too.

Donnington Hall surely stands as a shining beacon for all the failings within the BMI group. When a business moves into a beautiful listed building like that, management have quite clearly stopped making decisions based on the pursuit of profit, letting down both their shareholders and staff.

Certain businesses need flashy headquarters, but only because it is part of the customer experience. No BMI passenger ever set foot in Donnington Hall, so you have to ask why shell out all that money for it?

My employer works out of a rather embarrassing portacabin on the side of a very unglamarous windswept airfield. They have been in continuous profit for 30 years and my job feels correspondingly safe.

You really don't get it, it was owned by SMB and leased to his company. He was the majority shareholder, it was all done in his interest.

YS

Well bmi British Midland have owned the hall for over 36 years now and have had their headquarters/operations here for 30 years so it cant do them as bad as you are making out....???

Future
 

I think the Coventry rumour stands a chance.

Centre cities

Rumours
 

I heard on the grapevine that the UK based company is Flyforbeans and the other interested company is ASL.

Was wondering if Inkjet has any knowledge of this as he seems to be in the know?

Interesting first post from terrain!

If the rumour is true about Flyforbeans I think it will be as successful for the company as when JC announced the opening of a BHD base. You never know they could bring in a new MD!!! Might not be too bad after all.

The future of Baby...
 

Well, lets see, in the past few days we have had Jet2, Flybe, Monarch, Sir Peter at Coventry, trucker Stobart, a German based company, venture capitalists and now a baked beans company.....

Let's be honest, no-one knows and will not know until a public announcement is made.

Only then will one of the lucky punters say: "I told you so, I was right!"

We're talking about that gravelly voiced munter from Dragons Den??
http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/fe...-979495519.jpg
And for that reason, I'm out

Who's next? Is M Mouse going to put in a bid? The Easter Bunny? The Chuckle Brothers?

:rolleyes:

Yellow sun,
Utter bollocks that SMB leased the hall to the company...the hall was always owned freehold by the company and still is. Where do you get these ideas that have zero basis in fact? :=

Baby cannot be very desirable, Sir Beardie has not made an offer yet.

Maybe Theo Profiterole will bid now that his knicker empire has collapsed :sad:

Air Contractors/ASL Group seem to be emerging as a likely winner for Baby.

They would have the finance and know how to take on the company and could give it the life support it needs.