I'm not so sure they're a very good "fit" at all. SRB has plans at LHR with great expansion of his long haul network. The only thing he doesn't have is slots. bmi to SRB is purely about slots. I doubt the MME's and the BRU, CDG etc etc feature greatly in his plans. In fact I'd hazard a guess that if SMB were to sell it would be the LHR operation that goes.

In the radio feature he states there is a case for shorthaul being restricted as there are more environmentally friendly ways to travel.

However I seem to remember 5 years ago there was a great flurry of activity between bmi and VS that came to nothing.

on their way out
 

Bmi at Bhd was always going to be a non starter thats why SMDB tried in vain to make the contract null and void when BA announced their withdrawal from Belfast to Heathrow ,He sacked the chief operating officer Mr Hogan and all his aussie chums.I know cause I worked there at at time.The reason for the lower pax figures is also down to direct routes from BFS to the likes of Sxf,Gva,Bcn,Prg,Cdg,Nce(coming back for summer I can assure you)Ams,Fao and now Kac,Waw etc,not to mention Ewr,Sfb,Yyz and Tfs.Also BFS in talks with PORTUGALIA for LISBON/OPORTO to serve the portugese community in Northern Ireland.

SK and LH can't find sellers because everyone knows how MB has held them hostage over the years with his majority. At least LH pilots would be okay with a quick retrain to A340, presumably baby would be shoehorned in VEX but with the delay until A380 would there be room for the 319 pilots?

Interesting view, one that I can see the sense in. So what do you think the future holds for BD at Bhd?

True Blue

BMI at BHD
 

True Blue,

Don't know, but I for one (and the company I work for) can't justify the extra expense.

former gk,

Valid point. It used to be that to go anywhere, you first needed to fly to LHR, using either BA or BMI. Now of course, lots of cheap, direct flights and no longer any need to shuttle to LHR.

Interestingly enough, on a thread many moons ago, I managed to botttom out some info on the whole BA pull-out thing. Seems that for onward pax, BA only apportioned a percentage of the total fare (as a percentage of BFS-LHR miles versus total miles) to the BFS-LHR sectors. This ultimately reduced the "fee-earning" potential of the route. It is also fair to note however, that the mid-week flights could be quite empty (even the 19:00 from LHR) and I remeber being one of just a handful travelling some evenings - but BMI were packing them in..... (as the fares were cheaper then).

Even if BMI pull out of Belfast - LHR, I can't see BA coing back as they have lost a lot of face with the BA Connect fiasco..... maybe the future is bright.... but not to LHR.

Regards,

Shuttlebus

stn
 

There's a nice 747 size hangar completely underused at STN - how about that one too - be a great bosst for STN to have the big V there.....:)

If Virgin, either solely as the Virgin Group or more likely with a partner company, decided to put in a bid for bmi, does anybody know how much the airline is worth? Would Virgin only be looking at the slots for LHR, or does anyone think that they'd want to keep the trunk routes where pax & crew connect from as well as some other key cities to go up against British Airways? Could Virgin keep a presence in the regions or is bmibaby likely to go, strange what it would have to be called if they had to get rid of "bmi" connotations?

Essentially, from a human resources point of view this merger has the makings of a disaster, with very different corporate cultures as well as a lot of potential job losses. However, given bmi want to expand into the already crowded longhaul market and have made a complete dog's dinner out of their shorthaul services, maybe it'll take some Virgins to turn it back around.

>>does anybody know how much the airline is worth?<<

It's worth whatever anyone is prepared to pay for it - minus the £69 million pension fund deficit.

As MarkD says: Sir has kept everyone at bay. From the outside, he does not appear to allow any changes or developments and, in my personal, view has been undermining the company for years. Of course, his view is that he is building something strong and lasting but I think that he holds to a 1970s view of the airline world.

BD has not made it to the big time and needs to either join a small company and help it jump up, or join a big company and make it bigger. I expect that he will do neither and, consequently, BD will fall through the middle. In the European airline market, the company could fit in well with others - but his determination to be boss of a global airline means that he will fail. If not in his lifetime, then within minutes of his death.

It is very sad but the world has many examples of people whos start things and then fail to hand them over to people who can run them day-to-day.

There are a great deal of cynical views here and yes, everyone has a right to air their views. But don't forget that British Midland/bmi have been around for many years and weathered many storms in the aviation industry. Admittedly they have lost their way recently and to many bmi is not the same company we all knew even 10 years ago, but that is a very small period of time, I feel, for bmi. Sir MB is a very shrewd businessman and will not let his 'ship' sink. Others at a senior level may fall before bmi ever does.

The Virgin-bmi merger/takeover/buyout has been rumoured for years... come what may there probably are as many benefits as disadvantages if it were to happen. Lets just wait and see before passing judgement...:ok:

Come on Mister Bishop, sell it to Dickie please!

If they've made a Dog's Dinner out of shorthaul then they have made an Elephant's Dinner out of longhaul.

It looks like the Mumbai withdrawal is now a permanent matter than temporary, despite promises that the A330 may be back by December. Services for the whole winter have been taken out and they are covering the Heathrow slots by operating an extra daily flight to TeesSide and juggling some other services around to cover it.

Rather looks as though it leaves them with a spare A330 when 'BM gets back flying again.

Virgin could never afford to buy bmi. The LHR slots are worth a fortune. I don't know how many slots bmi have but my guess its into the hundreds. It might be that Virgin and bmi merge but one things for sure, Sir dickie doesn't have that much spare cash.

I seem to remember reading that Lufthansa had a purchase option on Mr. Bishops' shares in BMI, until that right is either exercised or given up that would surely rule out any other operator making a move on BMI

BMI A330 LHR-Mumbai? when again
 

I understand that due to an AOG A330 and a ongoing dispute with Airbus the BMI LHR-MUMBAI service is suspended.

Trying to get an answer out of the BMI call centre regarding when it will start again is like getting blood out of a stone! Can anybody out in pprune world give me the inside story as to when the service will run again???

At the moment the service is being done by booking pax onto VS - is this correct?:ugh:

I understand that following routine maintenance, a crack was found relating to the main gear, the aircraft will remain out of service until it is fixed.

A quick search of the Internet yielded:

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/arti...419673,00.html

Extracts from the press release on the bmi website, and my suggested :cool: translation:

"This uncertainty is also impacting upon our ability confidently to sell seats from Heathrow to Mumbai. The marketplace is intensely competitive and we have serious concerns about a prolonged period of over three month’s absence. A sustained absence will place us at a considerable disadvantage against the competition that we face on services to Mumbai when we are able to recommence operations." ("We don't know when the aircraft will be back. We're arguing with Airbus about this and claiming for consequential damages, so our rhetoric has to demonstrate that we're suffering a major loss, but whenever we do get the plane back, we'd virtually have to relaunch completely in the Mumbai market, and we're not sure it's worth our while.")

“This is only a temporary setback to our long haul route network growth and we remain committed to the development of that part of our business. That is why we have made no reductions in operating crew levels including the 66 cabin staff positions involved in the Mumbai operation. Any job losses will be minimal and all confined to India based positions.” ("We know we will get the plane back sooner or later and we can find other things to do with it. The 66 cabin staff will be needed whether the plane's going to Mumbai or somewhere else. We're letting go of some or all of our people in India, which may suggest that we're preparing to exit the Indian market. There's more and more competition in the UK-India market, it's not working out as well as we'd like, and if we can extricate ourselves from that market and get Airbus to eat some of the blame and the costs, so much the better.")

Note that the last sentence is complete speculation on my part. But clearly LHR-BOM has been the least well-performing and/or least-strategic of the daily/near-daily BD long-haul routes - why else would it be the one they canned when they lost an aircraft?

C.

Pictures here

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=245986

Starting London-Mumbai must have seemed like a good idea at the time, but the route is now saturated. BA have gone up to twice daily, VS are daily, Jet Airways are twice daily and Air India is still there. Plus all the airlines who can give connections at Gulf airports.

Surely, if BMI was travelling really well on the service, they could borrow a plane from a friend - perhaps a chance to see if A340s would fit into their network?