Skipness.

Don't disagree wth you and that this was a Bishop vision for sure. When bmi were operating as a true standalone business.

I just point out for so many people and especially some of our friends across the pond that bmi are no competition for BA and given their very limited short haul connections we are getting further and further away from LHR being a viable *A hub -Frankly the European Hub for *A is FRA/MUC henceforth.
*LHR will be a *A focus and O&D destination (with minimal domestic UK feed)

I understand your comment re the jungle-jets to Aberdeen however they may want to retain the route if only for Royal Dutch Shell traffic.

I'm booked LHR-MME in April so phoned their Indian call centre yesterday and they denied the route was being cancelled. Phoned back today and they still denied it, was I confused with Leeds he asked?
I suggested that the nice man check the front page of his own airlines web site....

I was then given a second number to call where another nice Indian man clained that I wasn't booked to Teesside but Durham Valley. He then said yes my flight WAS cancelled but he would give no advice on rebooking as the "reaccomodation" policy wasn't due for another week!

Needless to say it's back to BA, I've given BMI a few chances and each time they've let me down. What a joke!

That obviously due to them not knowning England geographically and have obviously not done their back ground on the airline but if I was being payed what they are for what qualifications they have I wouldn't either.

I'm guessing most people will be offered a refund or MAN?

The bmi website confirms that LBA and MME stop at the end of March.

Official email notification to mailing list just arrived in my inbox.

I'm guessing the regional flight deck currently based at MME will return to their original bases, or more likely be sent to ABZ to crew the extra aircraft doing the Birmingham route...

But what will become of the mainline cabin crew still based at MME?

A300boy
 

Very sad news for all concerned at Leeds. From a personal perspective it makes it more difficult to get home to Leeds now as so many times the only easy way of getting back to Leeds was via Heathrow and Bmi to Leeds , I hope all staff will be intergrated in the new arrangements but I have to say my affiliations with Bmi and services operated by them will have to be reviewed now.

The statement on the bmi website is appalling. It looks like it has been cobbled together in five minutes because the news has leaked before they were ready to announce it. The fact that the services were still on sale today even after the FT had printed details of them stopping is also extremely poor. bmi's handling of this has, I'm afraid, done nothing to change my view that this is a company whose management is seriously lacking.

The company is a joke. Can't rebook my cancelled Teesside flights until next week as the Indian call centre hasn't recieved the "re-accomodation" package.

Useless for business are BMI.

Also if anyone at BMI reads this FIX THE DROP DOWN LIST OF DESTINATIONS in the booking engine. They're in pseudo-alphabetic order based on IATA code, so YOU'RE LOSING BUSINESS as people don't find their intended destination where it ought to be.

Washington is under I for IAD and Teesside is under M for MME and not D for Durham Tees-Valley. It beggars belief that such stupidity can stand in any business. It's booking 1-01. Incredible incompetence in making it really hard for people to find where the Hell you fly on your own website.

Re-basing at LHR or P45 is my guess

Albeit not as a wetlease but as a normal bmi flight with an LH codeshare

Skipness One Echo the drop-down menu nonsense is only the start of the flaws with the bmi website. Many destinations are often unbookable because the drop-down menu has been updated incorrectly, it is often not possible to scroll down to select flights for purchase, the class of service option is never updated so buying a premium economy ticket on whichever route is the latest to be served by the A330 isn't possible...the list of sloppy errors goes on. All of this drives business back to the TAs...or other airlines.

You can book a prem econ ticket now on the CAI and TLV. The drop down menu is up to date.

bmi management is under pressure from LH to cut costs and make the airline profitable again. The loss of the Leeds and Durham is a blow to those regional airports and the old bmi route network. But with poor marketing for its domestic services and changing the times to keep slots warm, bmi made the route fail themselves.

But if bmi did not have its mid haul operation the airline would either have been round up or be on the brink of it. The midhaul busniess customer is being focused on. Because they are helping keep the airline going.

When BA says it is burning £2.7 million A DAY. The airlines in the USA are lossing billions. No one is safe at the mo. I wonder about LH and how much they are spending.

LH is making solid returns on the vast majority of their routes and despite higher than anticipated falls in cargo, that is also still making money.....Don't lose too much sleep over losses at LH - bmi on the other hand, I understand to be losing shedloads - even though the pax numbers are better than they have been.

I tend to agree with many of the above statements though. If LH don't do something soon, it will be painful. [Maybe that is what they are waiting for!]

Many people are brushing off CV's for jobs both in and out of aviation.

ST

NT currently on 'Working Lunch' BBC2 - he looks knackered.......

You ain't seen me, right..........

NT looked rough as ar:mad:eholes on Working Lunch maybe he`s had a few sleepless nights, but not as many as most of his employees at MAN-MME-LBA.

Had to laugh when he tried to plug the chefs...........8 years to late:D

Have booked to travel with BMI for LYS-MAN and then back in early April. Looking on their website, the winter timetable ends 28th March and no summer timetable has been put up yet. I would expect the new timetable up sooner than 2 weeks before it becomes valid. Also, I noticed today's flight from LYS-MAN was cancelled. Given these two factors, should I have any concerns, or try to get a contingency plan in place just in case. Cheers

If it were to be cancelled bmi would have to reacommodate you or give you your money back.

Assuming you are referring to the PDF timetable, I would not be at all concerned - most airlines do not post the new PDF on their website until after the old one has expired. Further, plenty of airlines post the PDF timetable well after the validity has begun.

If you want to check whether a flight is expected to go ahead, try making a dummy booking for it on the airline website

The news that BMI lost just under £100M last year on turnover of £1.1Billion seems to have made little news on this forum.With £45m of savings planned for this year it looks like NT is moving the company from intensive care back into the resus unit.