Have Flybe got any left? If so they must have a never ending pot of 145s!

They definately still have a few, jethros website should tell you the exact amount.

I think they are all or mostly based in MAN now

BMI reggie are the most punctual 4 years running and have one of the highest despatch rates for the jungle jet. There would need to be extra airframes though with the maint spare seeing more use.

There is a nice white flybe 145 at Manc that would sticker up in no time.

Does anyone have any info on the schedule and any concrete news release from BAE systems or Eastern?

D and F :8

Good news for bmi regional
 

This sounds like good news for regional, their OTP is first rate. I would have thought that it would be an early and late flight in each direction if two aircraft are involved? I guess Chester is CAT1 ? and the ERJ are only CAT2 for the foggy days in deep france (they seem to get a few)

Whether they can use the aircraft during the day on other things or why risk it i don't know.

I see baby are running Toulouse year round for W09 so i guess they can move crews around as required, i doubt they will make Toulouse a base, but they might do deals with crews who wish to stay down there, as per LHR

Great news for BMI Reg any idea what will happen when the lufthansa deal goes through in a couple weeks? Papers reported flybe were sniffing around? or will lufthansa keep it as a feeder?

Flybe haven't got a hope of aquiring reggie. It's not gonna be given away and flybe don't have the cash.

Chester contract requires two E145s with potential for a third for standby and extra flights. One aircraft at each end of the route to operate CEG-FZO-TLS Monday to Friday. There is a very tight timescale to meet a July start. There is still a strong possibility that aircraft will be freed up by pulling off existing scheduled routes rather than new additions to the fleet.

bmi regional in itself is fine - one just has to hope that Lufthansa doesn't give it away as the "prize" to anyone prepared to take on its sister company within the group.

Maverick
 

LH deal went through on Friday in order to meet the window of LH/SMB share holder options agreement, The EU have given LH the nod that there are no competion issues or state aid to delay completion of LH share transfer to 50%+1 of bmi from SMB. Formal staement may come as early as this week, but more likely next week.

At present they have no plans to dispose of either mainline/regional or bmibaby which is trading ahead of budget for 1/4 one.

Good newshttp://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/thumbs.gifI hope it all works out OK for you guys, there are enough hurdles to jump already with present financial climate and now swine fluhttp://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/eek.gif

Ian

Sounds like great news for Bmi Regional:ok:. Any idea when this will go public. How do they look crew wise for 2 to 3 more Acft. Any rumours about courses and further recruitment if these extra units do arrive. With a July start this is cutting it fine. Would work well as a dual base Manchester/Chester crew wise. :ok:

Inkjet

You state - "At present they have no plans to dispose of either mainline/regional or bmibaby which is trading ahead of budget for 1/4 one."

So are you telling me BMI's management have turned around a £100m loss making business in one quarter (a quarter for which, coincidentally, every other airline is reporting a significant downturn year on year) to such a degree that LH has no plans to dispose of Mainline, Regional or Baby?

Please get real, or declare your interest.

Inkjet didn`t say that they had turned a £100M loss round he just said they were better than budgeted which is a different thing, as you can still budget for a loss but keep it under control.

Why should LH sell what they have just bought as noway will they get what they paid for BMI, but it could and should contribute to the Lufthansa brand feeding into
LH and Star Alliance. Baby if they decide to keep it could be a large money earner
if LH perhaps rebrand or relaunch pushing the LH connection which has a very good name over here.

Ian

I think it is to be read that bmibaby are trading ahead of budget, not the whole/rest of the group, which is what has come from management during the SDE days at Tiny Town.

I know of one guy that has an interview with Regional. Not sure how that works after all the lay offs.

Well that is BS in itself, BA said from day one of BA Connect being formed that it had at most two years to turn itself around otherwise after years of heavy losses it would be sold off or closed down. bmi Regional has been consistently profitable for the bmi group for many years and is in a completely different position to what BACON was two years ago. Where people keep getting this idea that bmir being bought by flybe is so inevitable is beyond me!

Agreed - doesn't seem to make sense to phase out an aircraft type from the fleet only to, as soon as you have done, start the process all over again by buying another airline with the same type of aircraft you have just phased out......

BMIR and FlyBe
 

It will depend on the exposure that LH have when the deal is finalised. I believe the price was fixed back in 99 so its a lot less than current!! market value. Dont forget LH have been doing at lot of aquisations recently and the pot could be runing low. If they thought that by disposing of BMIR this would swell the confers they will do it. The value in BMI to sit on is the slots at LHR. I would expect to see BMIR and Baby disposed of and once the economic crunch is over bids for the slots. Dont forget selling a profitable part means less exposure and builds a war chest to keep the rest going.

So if interviews are being rumoured on the horizon, are courses being planned?:ok::ok:

xtypeman
 

LH have pockets that are far deeper than the likes of BA and although they have made a first quater loss (earning figures should be out today) they still think that full year will be positive.

They are of course contracted to buy SMB intrest (50%+1 share) and they knew that when they bought both SN & AA. So any idea that a fire sale is required to replace funds, given that any sale, if possible in the current market would reap peanuts.

LH are long game players (they have been involved with bmi for the best part of a decade) the big issue to address and by far the most urgent is to make the LHR operation profitable and it is short haul flying that is hurting the East bound medium haul routes are doing well and offer good long term growth.

Regional have a very good product and the profitablity is driven by the fact that the fleet does a lot of flying for mainline, in which the earnings are underwriten by mainline so there is no risk, ditto the Airbus contract.

bmibaby have preformed well thus far, but everyones knows that is doesnt fit the Luffty product, but again it was set up on Luffties watch and the European market has changed since the ECA agrement was set up. If Luffty want part of the high volume + cash flow market that Easy/Ryan/Aerberlin are in they have the means to do it with Eurowings/baby under whatever brand these choose, they may of course just sell it/close it/give it away, in any event all will become clear soon.:)