Who want to travel there right now?

Err. Do I really need to answer that one? It's not the nightstop that's the problem. More the risk of getting blown out of the sky!

You couldn't pay me enough to even contemplate going to Tripoli for the next 6 months. I might do it as a personal "danger tourism" thing, but for work? Nope.

From a common-sense commercial view, BMI being merged into BA would be a Good and Sensible Thing. There are a number of non-competitive BMI routes, and the days of the combined operation having a monopoly have long passed with the emergence of Easy and others on parallel routes. As an alternative to BMI just fadng away, it is surely attractive.

If part of the merger was a requirement that the number of domestic slots out of Heathrow was maintained, then there would be encouragement for a more effective set of UK connections through Heathrow that would develop (restore) BA's business in the regions.

Alas you now have seemingly self-appointed organisations like the OFT and Competition Commission (UK) and the European Commissioner for Competition (Brussels), all of whom seem to have been penetrated by oddball academic economists with their own angels-dancing-on-a-pinhead competition theories. Actually aviation has not (yet) suffered as badly from them as some other transportation businesses. But you can see it coming, as each tries to grab the headlines from the other by demanding ever more Heathrow slots are taken away in any merger and given to overseas carriers (who gleefully take them and the business, but behind the scenes must feel the UK government are complete idiots). How are Lufthansa and Air France freely allowed to build up operations at their own hubs with far more dominance that any BA/BMI combination at Heathrow might have ?

Lastly, not to feel left out, and to finally put the cherry on it, the DfT come along, not with any support for UK carriers, but with restrictions and civil service makeworks that put such restrictions on sensible arrangements for connecting passengers at UK airports, compared to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, etc, that ANY carrier trying to have a UK hub feels they are fighting with both hands and both feet tied behind their backs.

Why would BA want to merge with BMI ? .Its route structure isn't yielding any profit and integration would mean more hassle than its worth.The regions for BA have never been profitable but its longhaul network is.

Its slots BA want, nothing more nothing less.

stormin - is LH willing to sell just slots (and deal with the redundancy issues through a potentially very expensive court case, or does it come as part of a package known as bmi ?

Could the bmi slots, crew and aircraft at LHR be used by dropping destinations which are unprofitable due to over capacity, and fill in gaps that BA probably might want to open to boost long haul but which bmi could never make work on a standalone basis as they didn't have a substantial long-haul operation to feed ? An example being something like Leeds - LHR...

Flypuppy
 

I believe there is a board meeting Tuesday or Wednesday, so I would guess any announcements would follow that.


Flypuppy, what was the outcome of the board meeting .....??????

Any news for us all to digest.

davidjohnson6: If BA were to magically obtain some extra LHR slots the very, very last thing they would want to use them for is UK domestic. Sorry Leeds.

Correct. But if some regulator REQUIRED a percentage of them to be used for domestics (and if not so used, to be put back in the pool) ......

I'm not aware of any instances, anywhere in the world, where slots are reserved for specific destinations. But in any case, given HMG's extreme antipathy towards air travel in general and Mainland UK domestic air travel in particular (also seemingly shared by HM Opposition) I don't see domestic destinations receiving any kind of preferential treatment any time soon.

I agree, but find it bizarre, if only because shortly after the House of Commons packs up on a Thursday you will find at both Heathrow and LCY half the MPs (of all parties) from N England, Scotland and Northern Ireland there, headed back for their constituencies. Poor old duty terminal and airport managers have to be on their toes for them all !

There would be a good case for boosting regional development and connectivity by plugging some airports back into the UK hub, I think Inverness,possibly Leeds and certainly the non UK islands JER / GCI / IOM would be a good bet. Alas I don't think Teesside would be worth the candle anymore...

Since I am not a member of the board or an employee of bmi, I wouldn't really know.

However there is a very interesting article on anna.aero about bmi, and a very impressive graph that would scare any potential investor.
I will try to link to below...

http://www.anna.aero/wp-content/uplo...i-pl-98-10.png

Initially it would scare but ultimately I'd invest in BMI if I saw that graph and didn't read PPRuNe. It shows now is a cheap time to buy and the financials are recovering, that's a good time to invest.

Unfortunately, the 2011 result is just for the first 6 months...

Here's hoping the 3rd quarter results will be a bit better.

I just don't see it - really dont think IAG will buy bmi. They cant fit the whole operation into T5, and would require a re-jig of airlines in T3 for them to be accommodated into the current set-up. Maybe too much work is needed?

I don't think that would be an issue. BA already quite happy to run a few routes out of T3 and Star Alliance airlines will be moving out into T2 before too long. I think it'll all depend on the financials rather than logistical issues and whether LH will sell to IAG.

I don't think terminal move issues would stop IAG, even if it results in BA reverting to a three terminal operation at LHR.

Any deal will take a long time to complete and after that bmi would continue to operate independently with its own operating licence and a lot will change at LHR by the time bmi was fully integrated into BA.

Despite employment tupe laws - I still think if it does go ahead, it would open up Heathrow. BA wants slots, sure, but it won't need all BMI slots or want them, it'll take what it needs, keep some aircraft and staff and sell the rest and ideally free up important LHR day slots maybe?

Just a thought; would the EU competition lot allow it?

Can't see why not. BA would have less than the slot allocation the DLH have at Frankfurt.