Mmm, but see, the different there is that BA did it the right way. Note how smoothly it has been handled and implented in comparison to BD's continual blundering, flip flopping and direction changes.

Hmmm, I think not, because those would become feeders. What it would spell the end of would be the majority of LH from MAN, I expect the ORD would stay though.

That comment alone deserves another ban.
If I were a barrow boy I would find that comment extremely offensive. :D

SAUSAGEHEAD you are.

If we can pull the topic back to the matter at hand?

The one thing which really surprises me about all of the current bmi situation is that Michael Bishop hasn't stepped back in to try to sort some of this out. Having built up the business from virtually nothing, he must have a tremendous pride in what he has achieved and I can only imagine it must be heart-breaking watching this. [He also has a significant investment along with Balmforth and Wolfe in the operation.] Is he actively involved in the airline or is he no longer part of it, perhaps through illness or something?

The one thing which really surprises me about all of the current bmi situation is that Michael Bishop hasn't stepped back in to try to sort some of this out.

Could be that he is a bit busy playing with an opera group at the moment and that he is lost for a way forward.

He is still taking a tidy fortune from the business.

6

Load factor is not a useful measure of anything, other than how often the seat covers need to be changed! Yield is what matters. Take, for example, Jet Blue Vs Delta on certain routes. With the prices delta charge, their load factor is somewhere in the region of 120%!!! Madness. Market share is not important anymore, all airlines need to operate their routes with an economice justification...if they dont make money...dump em. If routes can not stand up on their own, precious resources are being wasted. Not only are they making a loss for the sake of prestige, but the company is being denied the profit from them as well!

I think trying to wedge themselves into the trans-atlantic market from Heathrow is only going to push bmi deeper into the proverbial - it's certainly not the panacea that they seem to think it will be. The big boys will squeeze them pretty hard, with little mercy. They might carve out a niche going to underserved markets, but even still - how many of them are left without some sort of air service from London?

Competely agree with that. Do they honestly think that BA/AA/UA will welcome them? They will use predatory pricing to squeeze them till they bleed. In any case they'd hardly be 'allowed' onto some routes by UA -Star Alliance partner.
US from LHR could be the end for them.

And here's me thinking that bmi are always broadcasting how much they welcome competition.

I guess it's easy to pretend you welcome competition from behind the protection of Heathrow slots.

It could be argued that bmibaby has a history of running scared from the competition. No Heathrow slots in those cases, you see. Interesting, isn't it?

You'd think, after over twenty years, someone would have noticed how (arguably) false their "We welcome competition" claims appear to be. "We welcome competition, as long as it's only BA, on short haul routes, to/from Heathrow, protected by slot allocations" might be a more honest statement, perhaps?

Unfortunately for bmi, not only have BA at Heathrow developed a degree of backbone, the competition other than BA is attacking them via destinations beyond Heathrow and bmi don't appear to know what to do about it.

But as a star member they would be code sharing,wouldnt they,makes them on a whole a bit bigger than stated on previous posts,not such a small fry with star backing will it.there maybe alot put in to trying to go west bound,not much said about going east,oh we will just have to wait and see what the tieless have to say next week!!!!!!


Rgds

K.I.L.

In general I don't see any particularly encouraging signs from the transatlantic open skies talks at the moment - they were being tied to the liberalisation of the US airline-ownership-and-control restrictions, and a bit of a domestic political mutiny about loosening those has broken out in Washington (aided by the recent Dubai-buying-US-ports kerfuffle and the fact that this is a midterm election year in the US). So (although I would be happy to be proven wrong) I don't see any imminent liberalisation there.

Looking east rather than west, on a positive note, a amendment to the UK/Russia bilateral has just been agreed which gives BMI the right to operate up to 10 London-Moscow flights a week (source: ATI news yesterday).

Meanwhile I understand that the bmi annual results are due out in April - anyone have an exact date?


Brian_dromey:
Do you mean their breakeven load factor, or are one out of every six DL passengers standing in the aisles throughout the flight? :ooh:
And - not to defend Delta in this case - companies sometimes choose to price below cost in the short term in the hope of driving a competitor away. (I would have to agree, though, that Delta is not in the strongest position to be doing so at present.)

With BMI sorting their Moscow problem I wonder what effect that will have on Cathay to Manchester?

G-I-B

Tuesday - should be interesting stuff. Incidentally, SMB will also be at results presentation, not just Mr Turner.

Would bmi be looking to serve SVO or DME?

British Midland Moscow Route Licence Confirmed by DETR

release date: 15/04/1999

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, has confirmed the decision of the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) that the licence for the second UK carrier to operate services between Heathrow and Moscow should be granted to British Midland.

British Midland has consistently argued that its proposed services, together with its network of connecting UK and European routes at Heathrow represents the best overall option to travellers.

Sir Michael Bishop, chairman, said:

“Obviously we are delighted that the Secretary of State has upheld the decision announced by the CAA last December.

“We plan to introduce services as soon as possible but must await confirmation of our designation from the the Russian Federation authorities.

“This extremely important ruling is something of a watershed as it provides us with the ability and the headroom to compete with the established flag carriers on another important European route.

“We look forward to adding Moscow to our growing number of central and east European destinations where we have been able to bring the benefits of much-needed competition to travellers."

British Midland launched services to Prague from Heathrow in October 1995 and to Warsaw from Heathrow in July last year. This summer the airline will provide a double daily service to Warsaw as well as adding a new daily return service from Heathrow to Budapest.

ALL BACK IN 1999, NEVER STARTED, No idea why thay want to now, they don't have an direction. They just throw and hope it lands in the Bulls eye.

Given that the bmi representative at the last DfT meeting couldn't even pronounce the name of either of the main Moscow airports used for international flights, it didn't seem to be high on their agenda. After pushing for this back in 2001/2, I suspect this week's award will have come as a nasty shock to them. They might have to sit down and work out how to do something about it.

You could get through a lot of buy-on-board sandwiches on a sector as long as Moscow though.

They're going to have to have a good business class product on the route otherwise it will fail against BA and aeroflot

more press bmi bashing
 

more bmi bashing from the press here.. getting a bit tiresome now

http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Sto...1-6335FDE21694

Perhaps they'll save themselves the trouble, and make another one-class route ;)