BMi's new route to Stornoway.
 

The BBC local news here have just reported that 'British Midland' (their description) are launching a new route from Edinburgh to Stornoway in competition with Yogi Bear. It will be a full 7 day service too. Will this be operated by BMi Regional on the Barbie Jet? I believe they no longer have turbo prop equipment.

Will this generate any jobs for Pilots? I cannot see many current crew wanting to move to a Glasgow base and fly to the wilds of the Outer Hebrides, so does anyone know the plan? :confused:

Hi,

The full story is on the bbc website;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2256334.stm


Regards
TBS

From BMi's own web presence...

http://www.flybmi.com/en-gb/sectionhome.aspx?s=35&c=250&Rid=135

But will there be any recruitment...?

Have BMi taken back all of their redundant crew?

:rolleyes: Talking to a bmi regional pilot yesterday, news to him, but then they are the last to be told, even Donnington dont tell regional anything until after it supposed to happen.
As for new jobs, maybe as said friend tells me that there are loads of pilots leaving or intending to leave, with EASY recruiting and many others looking for alternatives.
Does this suggest they are not a happy company to work for?

How much of an effect is this likely to have on Loganair?

Their EDI flights all stop at INV, and are flown is the Saab Turboprop. Cant see too many people going with them to EDI/SYY with a direct routing in a faster aircraft..

Course I dont know if that many go with them to Edinburgh at the moment, as opposed to hopping between INV and SYY which seems fairly busy.

But with Highland Airways snapping at their routes from the bottom up, and now BMI creaming off the top, I would have thought Loganair might be having reason to get a bit twitchy??

Does anyone seriously believe bmi have a clue about what they are doing? Loganair have only recently got back to where they were before being thrown together with Manx Airlines(Europe) a few years back. The Highlands and Islands is a very specialised market and whereas I welcome competition, anything that screws Loganair, as this does will have a detrimental effect on other routes in the islands. The only reason bmi are doing this is that they need to find something to do with a spare jungle jet.

Thumbs up BMI
 

Skipness gotta disagree with you, much as I am fond of Loganair and I would dearly love them to see them in there old livery with the 146's, J31's and ATP's they once had, I feel this is an excellent opportunity for the people of the Wester Isles to have some choice in this world.

Highland Airways have done excellent in starting up the INV-SYY-BEB run and with Loganair to GLA, BACE to BEB from GLA, BMI to EDI the Islanders will never have had so much choice, and lets be fair these poor people have had to pay extorinate costs to fly to the mainland for years so its only fair they get something back.

To be quite honest I feel this route will prove to be popular for not only businessmen which I think its intended for but also people holidaying from the isles and people holidaying to the island, so in short good on ya BMI and good luck with the route!!

Nice of BMI to sit back and let Loganair rock the boat in SYY regarding operating on a Sunday. There has been a mixed reaction to the proposal and not all of the locals are in favour, making for some bad press for Loganair. During all this time BMI has just sat in the wings, kept nice and quiet and let someone else take the flak. It would be interesting to know how long this has been on the back burner at Donnington.
On another note who will handle them at SYY. Cannot see BA doing so as this is direct competion and it would be like shooting themselves in the foot. There again, stranger things have happened!

Highland Airways have handling at SYY so maybe they will handle BMI, or they will set up their own, does not need much to handle one barbie jet a day.

Any further info on possible recruitment at BMI Regional?

there was quite a bit of publicity for Loganair ok, but I dont think it was negative... A lot of the people who actually use the service welcome their decision, and will have a nice warm glow about the company that gave them the choice :)

The section of the population protesting most loudly are not likely to be the most frequent air travel users. :D

As to how long Bmi have been planning this, not long enough to have any means of booking tickets or timetable details on their website yet, despite less than 6 weeks till they start flying...
If their timetable is good for onward connections from Edinburgh they could actually pinch quite a few SYY- GLA customers from Brit Regional or whatever they are called now.

TLS too
 

See another bmi regional route will be MAN-TLS

Winter schedule is out and about and TLS is confirmed as part of it. Will be operated by EMB 145 and daily one flight a day.

Lots about it on The Scotsman website.

Good of BMI to let SG do all the spade work and take most of the abuse...... But all is fair in love, war and business I suppose.

I don't think that the LC management are worried: they are way to arrogant for that. :rolleyes:

Perhaps one of the few good things to come out of it will be the Islanders getting sunday newspapers on a Sunday!
There will be all sorts of background manouvres to persuade BMI to at least extend the Sunday service to route via Benbecula, where the huge military presence means the real world operates on the Uists.
Obviously it's a fine dividing line between operating costs and BMIs bottom line return, but having lived there for several years, I think it would work.
May the Lord gods Murdoch and Desmond spread the alternative word, and the Wee Frees wobble in their hypocritical boots. :D :p :D

Military? Real world? Weekend? Did I miss something?!

Sunday's not the Sabbath. However, would you like to explain in what sense you believe that the "wee frees" are hypocrites? At least they believe in absolute truth, not simply whatever is convenient to them.

Hmm, I sense a moderator close at hand. After all, discussions about religion are far more close to the bone than ones about politics or sex.

scottish_ppl, still no flight details on their website, but via other web agencies:

Monday - Saturday
BD661 EDI 11:25/SYY 12:20
BD662 SYY 12:50/EDI 13:45

Sunday:
EDI 14:40/SSY 15:35
SYY 16:05/EDI 17:00

Fares seem to start at £56 Northbound and £33 Southbound, £86 return.